Crossover IV: Poison Apple Part I
by AriaRose7
Summary: Aria continues to balance her life between two worlds as she enters her junior year. When she takes her friends to Snow White's birthday party the magic mirror makes an unexpected declaration of Fairest in the Lands. The Evil Queen ventures to the modern worlds where she finds she can create an even more deadly curse.
1. Introduction to the Regions

**_A/N: Hello readers! Welcome to the forth part of my Crossover series. First, here's a list of the stories that came before I would suggest reading._**

**_Crossover: Another World_**

**_Crossover II: Evalius_**

**_Crossover III: Nemesis_**

**_Instead of a prologue, I included a little introduction that explains all the regions in the other world we visited over the past three books in case you need a review or you're new and don't feel like reading the other books. _**

**_Since this story got to be rather long, I split it into two parts. I already have the entire first part (26 chapters) written so that means for the first time, this series will have weekly updates. Updates will likely be either Wednesday or Thursday seeing as I'm too busy on weekends. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy the next segment of this series. _**

_Introduction (What you need to know)_

In the corner of downtown Norfolk, Nebraska, there is an old, rusty abandoned building. Inside this building, contains a portal, a portal to another world. This alternate dimension is where you will find fairy tales are indeed real, along with other myths and fantasies. There are three main regions in this other world.

The Northeast Region is where the kingdom of Galatia is located, where Aria Rosenberg was born. Galatia, and other kingdoms in the Northeast are where common fairy tales, such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty, take place. These stories repeat themselves over and over as the years pass by. Princess Aria is the current Sleeping Beauty of Galatia. The kingdoms in the Northeast Region and blessed by good, meaning evil cannot win and there will always be a happy ending to every story.

The Southern Region is where Evalius and kingdoms similar to it are located. In opposition to the Northeast, the South is cursed by evil. This means that good cannot win in these kingdoms, or at least not without a price to be paid. As stories that would come from these lands are quite unpleasant, they are not known to the modern world like the fairy tales are. Lord Argarion reigned over Evalius for many years. Every ten years, he would select a young girl to be his bride. Once she is chosen, the priest Becket performs a ritual, allowing Argarion to steal her remaining years and give them all to him. This leaves nothing left of the girl but bones. Lord Argarion continued this until Aria and her friends finally defeated him. This caused Aria to take a life, something she hoped she would never have to do. The only two brides chosen that managed to survive are Myrtle and Kendal.

The Midlands and West are where Greek Myths are inspired by. These lands are neither driven by good or evil but neutral. This makes them more unpredictable. There are gods, but these gods are not any more powerful than the fairies from the Northeast Region.


	2. Chapter 1 Empty Summer

_Chapter 1_

_Empty Summer_

Vanessa Cooper rested her cheek on her hand, leaning on the side of the sofa as she aimlessly flipped through the television channels. For her, this had to be the dullest summer ever. It got almost to the point where she began to look forward to school.

Her best friend, Aria Rosenberg, was spending the entire summer in another world, literally. Just last year, while they were Sophomores, Aria discovered she was actually born in another alternate universe. Not only that, she was a princess. Her parents, the king and queen, had her sent to this world and an infant, because they feared the evil fairy's curse might actually work. Ironically, that same evil fairy, Myrtle, has turned good since then and now has been given the task to watch over Aria.

Since her recent discovery, Aria received the burden of deciding which world she wants to spend the rest of her life in, here or the kingdom of Galatia. She still has not made her up mind, but the king and queen feel that she needs to spend a solid amount of time in Galatia before she makes her decision. With high school, summer was the only time. Vanessa realized this was the longest time she's ever spent without seeing her best friend.

Her boyfriend, Walter Price, was currently residing in California State's National Study Camp. Vanessa did not understand why he felt the need to go every year, or why his parents made him. He was already the smartest person she has ever met. Walter constantly made A's in all of his classes. Vanessa couldn't recall him making even a B in anything, except one Biology test that the majority of the class failed anyway.

The other person Vanessa would have hung out with over the summer was Kendal Lewis. Throughout the Spring semester of last school year, the girls had a rather difficult time maintaining their friendship. The previous semester consisted of boyfriend drama between the two and overall struggle of power. Now, however, they managed to put to past behind them and move forward in being friends. Vanessa never would have dreamt this a year ago, but right now, she really wanted Kendal here.

For the past month, Kendal had traveled to New York City with her mom. Regina Lewis had always been quite big on fashion and wanted her daughter to be a model, as she was in her younger days. Though she enjoyed fashion, Kendal did not share the same interest in modeling as her mother. Mrs. Lewis, however, still forced her to attend modeling classes in New York to give it a fair chance.

So everyone seemed to be out on grand adventures, while Vanessa just sat on the couch, bored. As she stood up to go get a snack, she noticed her phone buzzing on the table beside the sofa.

"Hello," Vanessa answered, realizing she forgot to look at the screen and see who was calling.

"Hey girl! You missed me?"

Vanessa grinned and shook her head. "Hey Kendal. Are you back?"

"Yeah, we just got in," Kendal answered, brightly. "I have to unpack a little but is it okay if I come over for an hour this afternoon?"

"Well, lets see… I'm kind of in the middle of doing nothing right now so…"

Kendal chuckled and answered, "Right, I'll be over soon. I promise."

The girls said goodbye and hung up. About twenty minutes later, Vanessa heard the doorbell ring.

When Vanessa opened the door, she gasped. "Oh my God… What did you do, go try out for America's Next Top Model?"

Kendal had always been quite attractive. Boys began to take notice of this all the way back in grade school. Now, however, she had transformed from just simply attractive to Hollywood glamorous. Kendal's hair, which was light brown last time Vanessa saw her, was now a golden blonde. Her skin was perfectly bronzed like smooth satin and just as flawless as ever.

Kendal laughed before answering, "Yeah, I guess my mom's going through extreme measures to get me into this whole modeling thing."

The girls embraced after Kendal walked in.

"So how was your summer?" Kendal asked after the hug.

Vanessa shrugged. "Oh, pretty much just the same old. With you, Walter, and Aria gone, there really wasn't a lot to do."

"You could have hung out with Derek or Ian," Kendal suggested. "Why didn't you call them?"

Vanessa raised her eyebrow. "Would you really be okay with me hanging out with Ian considering…"

Ian Harris had been Kendal's boyfriend since eighth grade, with the exception of the two weeks he and Vanessa dated during Sophomore year. Naturally this was a major cause of conflict between the two at the time.

"Well, its okay if its not one-on-one," Kendal pointed out as they walked up to Vanessa's bedroom."

Vanessa shrugged, "Yeah, I did talk to Derek a couple times. It sounded like they spent most of the time playing video games and hanging out with their football buddies."

The girls entered Vanessa's bedroom. Kendal through her purse against the wall and plopped herself on the end of the bed. Vanessa sat down on the chair by her desk.

"So when's Aria going to be back," Kendal asked, leaning back towards her hands, rested on the bed.

Vanessa looked up and thought. "I think it was supposed to be sometime next week. I'm not really sure how they keep track of time there."

"Well, school starts back up the week after that, so hopefully she'll be here by then," Kendal said in a sigh.

"So how was New York?" Vanessa asked.

"Oh, it was alright," Kendal said, casually. "We pretty much just visited one modeling school after another so I could learn pointers."

"Sounds fun," Vanessa commented without much enthusiasm.

Kendal chuckled. "Yeah, you would be in Hell there. If you think cheerleaders are stuck-up snobs, some of these girls are in their own league in that area. Like one girl made a horrible remark about another girl's birthmark, which is like so faint you can barely see it. Anyway, the other girl spent hours in the bathroom crying after that."

"Oh my god," Vanessa muttered. "You're right, I would be in Hell there."

"Yeah," Kendal agreed. "I tried telling the girl with the birthmark that it's just something that makes her body special. Come to think of it. I probably should have just reminded her she could cover it with make-up."

Vanessa laughed. "Good lord, you're not going to become one of those girls, are you, Kendal?"

Kendal laughed with her and shook her head. "No, Mom wants me to join this modeling class this fall. Some of their shows are actually going to be at our school. I think they're supposed to incorporate the classes in with Sheerwood so they count for credit."

Vanessa gawked at her. "Seriously? Sheerwood doesn't even have a drill team for Football, but we're going to offer modeling as credit?" She paused and looked over at her friend. "So you're really going to tell your mom no on this?"

"Yeah, I mean it's pretty involved. I wouldn't have much free time to spend with you and Aria, or Ian… speaking of which, I should probably give him another call. I was going to try to see him tonight also."

"So that's why you're only spending an hour here," Vanessa concluded. "You're ditching me for your boyfriend later. So what's the female equivalent of the expression, bros before hoes?"

Kendal just giggled as she pulled out her purse, and pointed out, "Hey, I came to see you first. Don't forget that."

"Fair enough," Vanessa agreed as she moved over to her bed to lie flat on her back.

Kendal stood up as she called Ian.

"Hey Honey," she greeted, casually pacing around the room. "Yeah, I'm back… No, I'm pretty sure I said I would be back tonight… Really Ian, between the two of us, who do you think remembers that right?"

Vanessa chuckled at that.

"Oh, okay," Kendal said to him next. "No, that's fine… I said it was fine. I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it… No, I think I usually make it pretty clear when I'm mad about something."

"No kidding," Vanessa muttered with a giggle.

"I heard that," Kendal hissed covering her phone's speakers. She then said back to Ian, "Well okay, have fun tonight. I guess I'll see you another time… Okay, bye."

Kendal hung up the phone and sighed. "Well, I guess I'm free tonight after all."

Vanessa sat up and looked at her oddly. "What happened?"

Kendal just shrugged brushing her fingers through her hair. "I guess he got the day confused on when I was coming home so he already made plans with his friends."

"Aren't you mad?" Vanessa asked. "I mean, he hasn't seen you in over a month and he's been hanging with his buddies all summer."

"Well, he's a big boy. He can do what he wants," Kendal said, and shot her a smirk. "Remember last year, you kept saying I was way to controlling and should lighten up?"

"Yeah, well now it seems like you've gone too soft," Vanessa told her. "I guess it must be Aria's influence."

"I guess so," Kendal said in a laugh, and then pointed out, "At least we can hang out tonight. The guys say, bros before hoes. Well, I say sis before his. Does that work?"

Vanessa giggled. "Not really. We'll think of something later."

"Great," Kendal said, falling back on the bed with a sigh. "So what do you want to do tonight?"

Vanessa shrugged with another chuckle. "You could teach me some modeling moves."


	3. Chapter 2 Back Home

**_A/N: I decided to go ahead and put this chapter up since its short. Chapter 3 will be up next week._**

_Chapter 2_

_Back Home_

Aria walked anxiously beside Adora as they headed over to the lake that contained the magic portal back to her home. She enjoyed her two months in Galatia. After all, it was a fairy tale kingdom where literally every story has a happy ending. The whole atmosphere of this land provided her with an overly cheerful emotion that coated her body. However beneath all that gleefulness, she still missed her friends and family back home.

When Aria was an infant, she was sent through the portal to the modern world to hide her from the evil fairy that cursed her to die at age sixteen. Even though the other fairies knew it would be unlikely for Aria to actually die in the end, they still took the precaution to send Aria to the other world. The fairy that cursed her, Myrtle, did not become evil in the traditional way villains were made in that world. Verna, the head fairy, feared this might have some outcome on Aria's story.

Adora, the newest fairy, was given the task to watch over Aria while her adoptive family in Norfolk, Nebraska raised her. Over the years, the young Princess of Galatia grew close to her and felt more comfortable around her than the other fairies. Ironically, the other fairy Aria became closest with now was the same fairy that cursed her. After Aria's story played out in Galatia, Myrtle seemed to lose interest in being evil. She even saved Aria and her friends from Lord Argarion back in Evalius last year. After this, she gained Aria's full trust.

When the arrived at the lake Aria followed Adora, stepping into the water. Once they were about knee-deep, the force from the lake tugged them down before pushing their bodies right back up. Aria always felt the need to close her eyes for this part. When she re-opened them she recognized the abandoned building where the fountain with the portal was. She then followed Adora to her car, which was parked behind the building.

After Adora put the car in drive she asked, "So, have you made your decision yet about whether or not you want to one day be Queen of Galatia?"

Aria huffed, dreading this question. "I don't know. I mean, I guess after being there a while, it does sort of feel like I belong and I'm at home. But then, I keep thinking of the people I would leave behind here."

"I know, it's a difficult decision," Adora consoled, "But you have to remember, it's not as though you would never see your friends again. You just wouldn't see them quite as often. I hate to say, but your futures would likely hold different paths even if you chose to stay in this world. Isn't that how things normally work here?"

"I suppose you're right," Aria admitted. "I guess I really just need to decide what I want to do." She then pulled out her phone and declared, "And right now, I want to call my friends and see what they're doing tonight."

Aria pulled out her phone to search for Vanessa's number. Before she had the chance to call, her phone started buzzing and Derek's name appeared.

Derek had been Aria's boyfriend for almost a year at this point. When Aria was under the sleeping curse, his kiss was what brought her back. She almost could laugh at how much she used to despise him before that. He always used to tease her since they were kids. However, after they began talking and spending more time together, they realized they actually did like each other.

"Hi Derek!" Aria answered brightly.

"Hey! I guess it is what they say, third's a charm," Derek said back, enthusiastically.

Aria giggled and asked, "What do you mean?"

"This is the third time I tried calling you today," Derek explained, "and the first two times, it just said this number was unavailable."

"Yeah, I guess when you're in a different world, the reception not too good," Aria joked. "We just got back like ten minutes ago."

Derek paused for a moment before asking, "Hey, I know you're probably exhausted from your trip but do you think we can see each other sometime today after you get settle back in?"

"Of course," Aria said with a grin, "but I have to see Vanessa and Kendal sometime too."

"Well, they have each other," Derek pointed out. "They can wait."

"What if Kendal's going out with Ian tonight?" Aria asked. "Walter doesn't get back until two days before school starts so Vanessa won't have anyone to hang out with."

Derek responded, "Ian's hanging with the guys tonight so he won't be with Kendal."

"I see," Aria said, "and don't you want to have some guy time too?"

"I've had plenty of guy time this summer," Derek replied, starting to sound exasperated. "Now, I just want to see you."

Aria smiled, feeling her cheeks flush a little. "Okay. I'll give you a call when I get unpacked."

After Aria put her phone away, Adora grinned and commented, "You know, I bet Derek would move with you to Galatia if you wanted him to, after high of course."

Aria still could not help but smile at the thought, but she still grew uncomfortable at the same time. That would be just too much to ask of him now. After all, she and Derek have not even dated a year and this was a life decision. Aria just did not feel ready for that yet. At this point, she was grateful for the fact that she still had two more years before she had to make a firm commitment.


	4. Chapter 3 Snow White's Invitation

**_A/N: It's still summer so I decided to put an extra update up early this week. There might be another Thursday as well. Hope you're all enjoying this so far!_**

_Chapter 3_

_Snow White's Invitation_

On the first day of Junior year, Aria and Vanessa walked to school together just as they always did both years before since they started at Sheerwood High.

"I wonder what this year's going to be like," Aria pondered aloud, looking up to the sky.

Vanessa shrugged. "Probably boring compared to last year, not that I want to ever repeat last year again. I don't think I can take that kind of drama anymore."

Aria remembered all too well. It all started during fall of Sophomore year when Vanessa and Ian kissed at the Homecoming Dance. This led to Kendal and Ian breaking up, Vanessa hanging out with the popular crowd, and the worst part to Aria, she and Vanessa stopped talking to each other. Then after they resolved everyone, Vanessa and Kendal still had difficulty getting along during the Spring semester, while Aria desperately tried to maintain her friendship with both of them. Meanwhile Edmund, who served Myrtle back in her evil days, used a magical amulet, he stole from the other world, to make the girls' rage towards one another more intense. Fortunately, they managed to overcome it and rekindled their friendship.

When they arrived at school, the girls first met up with Walter. Aria gave him a big hug since she hadn't seen him since he got back in town. Vanessa, of course being his girlfriend, kissed him right after that.

Aria started to tiptoe away. "Okay, if you two need a moment, I'll just…"

"No, wait!" Vanessa said, quickly, pulling away from him. "We always compare schedules on the first day."

"Right," Aria said, flipping her backpack off her shoulder so she could pull hers out.

At the beginning of both their Freshman and Sophomore year, Kendal, Ian, and Derek were all more involved with the popular crowd so it was just Aria, Vanessa and Walter. Aria remembered always hoping at least one of them would be in each of her classes.

As Walter pulled out his own schedule, he held it up and said, "Well, this year Sheerwood finally got AP classes so…"

"We're not going to be in any of the same classes are we?" Vanessa finished for him.

"Afraid not," Walter said, and then added, "Also, you're probably going to have to start taking your own notes in class."

Vanessa looked bummed for a moment, but then shrugged. "I'll just use Kendal's instead."

"Speaking of Kendal," Aria intertwined, "Why don't we go inside and see if we can find her."

As they walked in, Aria and Vanessa compared schedules with each other.

"Well, we're in English and History together," Aria concluded. "That's something."

"It's always only like one or two classes?" Vanessa grumbled, as she continued to scan her own paper. "Hey, we still have Myrtle as our teacher this year."

"Oh right," Walter chimed in. "Mrs. Norbert came back this year and was replaced in her Sophomore English class so they must have moved Myrtle up to teach Junior English."

Mrs. Norbert started off as their English teacher last year. However, she was also expecting a child at that point so as soon as the baby was born she had to take a maternity leave. That was when Myrtle first came to the school to replace her.

The three went into and made their way to the Junior hall. They found Ian and Kendal standing by the lockers, talking.

"Well, look at that. They're actually together," Vanessa muttered.

"What do you mean?" Aria asked, curiously.

Vanessa continued in a hushed tone, "You know, he's only actually seen Kendal like once since she got back in town."

"I see we're kicking off the gossip early this year," Walter commented from behind them.

"It's not gossip," Vanessa hissed turning her head back. "It's true."

Walter raised his eyebrow. "How do you know for sure? Have you seen Kendal every day since she got back?"

"No, but I can sense these things," Vanessa said. "I knew last time before they broke up."

"To be fair, when he kissed you at Homecoming, that was probably a pretty good hint," Walter reminded her with a smirk.

Vanessa smacked his arm. "You promised you wouldn't bring that up again!"

"Sorry," Walter said, quickly. "But lets just try not to start anything this year."

"Yeah, Ian and Kendal seem like they're doing fine now," Aria pointed out with a shrug.

Vanessa merely muttered, 'whatever,' before they met up with each other and went to their Homeroom class.

xXx

The day seemed slow to Aria, as she assumed it would. The first day of school always felt dragging. All the teachers would simply introduce the class and go over basic rules and what they were going to do. The only teacher so far that didn't spend the entire period on this was Myrtle, who merely just stated they should remember her from last year and the rules were the exact same. Then, she made the rest of class a free period.

After English, she met up with the gang for lunch. She could not recall all six of them being together since the end of last school year. It felt nice. Aria and Vanessa found a table first, and then Walter and Derek soon met up with them. Ian and Kendal arrived last.

"So you have plans tonight, again?" Kendal asked Ian, as they two sat down at the end of the table, across from each other.

Looking down at his food, Ian answered, "Yeah, sorry Babe, but I already told the guys I'd be there, so maybe another night…"

Without saying anything, Vanessa shot Aria a brief 'see what I mean' look.

"Is that okay?" Ian asked, glancing back up at her.

"Sure," Kendal said, indifferently. "My modeling classes are starting up next week so I'll be pretty busy soon anyway."

Vanessa quickly swallowed her food and looked over to Kendal. "Wait, I thought you said you weren't going to do that."

Kendal shrugged her shoulders as she twirled her pasta. "I changed my mind."

"Why?" Vanessa pressed. "You said you didn't like it at all over the summer."

"I never said I hated it," Kendal pointed out. "Besides, its something I'm good at."

"Yeah, but you're actually smart," Vanessa said. "Most of those girls…"

"That is such a stereotype," Kendal snapped before she could finish. "You know you could be supportive instead of criticizing me."

"I'd support you if I thought it was what you really wanted to do," Vanessa argued.

Walter and Derek briefly exchanged looks but neither had anything to say. They both seemed to come to the conclusion that it was best not to get involved when the girls bickered like this. Ian did not really seem to be paying attention.

"Vanessa, I don't think Kendal would do something she really didn't want to do," Aria intervened. "I mean, when has that ever happened?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Vanessa mumbled, though she really did not appear to agree.

Aria decided best for a subject change so she said, "You know, while I was in Galatia, Snow White invited me to her sixteenth birthday party this fall. She said I could bring all my friends so if you want to go… We could go with each other as dates or something…"

"That sounds fun," Kendal agreed, turning her head to Aria. "When is it?"

"Her birthday is at the end of September, so I think the celebration will be the last weekend then," Aria answered. "I mean, we don't have to make definite plans for that now since September hasn't even started. Its just a suggestion."

Vanessa then pointed out, "When Snow White turns sixteen, that's when the mirror is going to declare her the Fairest in the Land, right?"

"I think so," Aria answered, nodding her head, uncertainly. "Usually sixteen is the age where stuff like that happens there."

"That will be kind of weird seeing her right before," Vanessa commented. "I mean, we'll pretty much look her in the eye, knowing her stepmother will soon try to kill her by feeding her a poison apple."

"Yeah, but we know for sure her prince or true love or whatever will save her and she'll be okay in the end," Kendal pointed out, and then looked to Aria and asked, "Isn't that right?"

Aria nodded. "As long as we don't do anything to change that, Snow White's story should play out smoothly."

"Do you think it's possible if we're all there, the magic mirror might pick someone other than Snow White as fairest in the land?" Walter asked.

Derek then looked up and shook his head. "Wait a second. If that's the case, I don't think it would be a good idea to go."

Aria gawked at her boyfriend. "Why?"

"Because what if the mirror chooses you as Fairest in the Land instead of Snow White?" Derek challenged. "Then the evil queen will come after you instead."

Aria resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "That's not going to happen. I'm Sleeping Beauty in that world. It wouldn't make any sense for the mirror to pick me."

"You were given to gift of beauty, right?" Walter asked her. "Do you think that would affect the mirror's choice?"

"I don't know," Aria muttered, honestly never giving this much thought.

"She can always ask either Myrtle or Adora," Vanessa suggested as she picked up her sandwich. "They would know for sure. I think it sounds fun though. How many times do we get the opportunity to party in another world?"

"Yeah, we should go if we can," Ian agreed, sounding a bit indifferent.

As soon as the lunch bell rang, everyone made a move for their next class. Aria made a mental note to talk to Myrtle later this week about Snow White's party.

Later that week, all the classes began to feel as a normal semester would. They already had loads of homework, something Vanessa did not hesitate to complain about. Aria just reminded her that Walter consistently had three times as much homework as the rest of them. He was already given a History essay and a Chemistry project on the first day. Vanessa merely responded that it was his own fault he was too smart for regular classes. They continued this conversation towards the end of their English class.

"You know, Kendal's also smart enough to take AP classes," Vanessa pointed out to Aria, while absentmindedly flipping through the pages of their _Through the Looking Glass_ book they were assigned to read. "But she's not going to because she said she doesn't have time because of her modeling classes and cheerleading."

Aria sighed. "I don't know what to say, Vanessa. Kendal can make her own decisions."

"Yeah, but don't you think its kind of a waste?" Vanessa pressed on. "If she takes AP classes now, she can make something of herself, but instead she's more focused on modeling."

"You can make a career out of modeling," Aria pointed out.

"I suppose," Vanessa admitted, "but she doesn't even like it. She's just doing it because of her mom. You know what Kendal's mom is like."

"She must enjoy it some to do it," Aria said, looking her in the eye. "You know, as her friends, we really should be supportive of her. If you start telling her this, all you're going to do is just get in fights with her again. It's her life so it's her decision."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Vanessa reluctantly agreed.

When the bell rang for lunch, Myrtle announced, "There will be a quiz tomorrow on the first fifty pages so be ready."

"Fifty?" Matt, a fellow classmate groaned.

Myrtle let out an exasperated huff. "You've had this whole week to read and a lot of free time during this class period. Besides, a lot of you probably look at the cliff notes online anyway. If you do that you should do good enough on the quiz."

As they began to pack their bags, Vanessa asked Aria, "Do you think since I watched the movie, Alice in Wonderland, I still need to read this?"

"_Through the Looking Glass _is a sequel to Alice in Wonderland so probably not," Aria replied, throwing her own book in her backpack.

"Darn," Vanessa grumbled. "Well, does this book have a movie too?"

Aria could not help but chuckle. "Seriously? Myrtle pretty much gave us permission to use online cliff notes and you're still trying to find an easier way?"

Vanessa shrugged. "I guess it's just a habit now."

Aria then stood up and said, "Well, I'm going to ask Myrtle about Snow White's party. I'll meet you at lunch, okay?"

Vanessa nodded and while everyone else vacated the room, Aria remained.

"Aria," Myrtle acknowledged, sitting down at her desk. "I would caution you about being late for class but I suppose you just have lunch now. Do you have a question about the book?"

"No," Aria said, even though she began to wonder if there was an Alice in the other world. "I just had a question about how things work in the other world."

"Interesting, and what might that be?" Myrtle asked.

"Well, I know in each kingdom has its own story, like mine is Sleeping Beauty," Aria rambled on, "but I was wondering if mixing kingdoms would mess up the stories?"

"Is this about being invited to Snow White's birthday party?" Myrtle asked, tapping her pen on her desk.

Aria tilted her head. "How did you know?"

"Adora told me," Myrtle replied. "What exactly are you worried might happen if you do go?"

"Well, it's not me that's worried. Its Derek," Aria said quickly, thinking of how conceited she would sound if she explained it without mentioning him. "He's afraid for some reason the queen's magic mirror might choose me instead of Snow because one of my gifts is beauty."

Myrtle shook her head. "You don't have to worry about that happening. You're story is over in the fairy tale region of that world. Just don't mention anything to Snow White about the queen's mirror and everything should play out smoothly. But you're Sleeping Beauty so your presence shouldn't affect the mirror's choice."

"What about Vanessa and Kendal?" Aria then asked. "You don't think the mirror would select either of them for any reason, do you?"

Myrtle tilted her head, but said, "It shouldn't. The only reason it would is if they had a connection to the world and neither of them were born there so unless they married someone there, they should be safe."

As far as she knew, neither of her friends decided to elope in Galatia or any other kingdoms so she figured going to Snow White's party would be no harm.


	5. Chapter 4 Old Love and New Love

_Chapter 4_

_Old Love and New Love_

The first month of school was pretty uneventful. So far, there had not been any over-the-top drama. Classes began to keep most students so busy anyway so they did not have time to bicker with one another as much. Right now, the hot topic was already the Homecoming dance. Derek had already asked Aria just a couple days ago. Walter decided to ask Vanessa last night. The only couple that had not made the date official was Ian and Kendal. Since October had not even started Aria did not think this was anything to worry about. Vanessa, on the other hand, disagreed.

"Every year before this, Ian was always like the first to ask Kendal to the dance," Vanessa said to Aria as the two girls walked to their History class for seventh period.

"It's still pretty early," Aria pointed out, still sounding slightly out of breath from Gym class the previous period.

"Yeah, but he always asks her out first. She makes sure of that," Vanessa reminded her.

Aria merely lifted her shoulders. "Well, I guess she's just trying to be less controlling. You're the one that gave her that advice, remember?"

"I suppose," Vanessa admitted as they approached the classroom. "They just seem different this year, as though neither of them really care anymore. I mean, like Ian barely made an effort to see her when she first got home during the summer, unlike Derek, who wanted to see you the moment you got home. He even called me a few days before and asked about you."

Aria was not really sure what to say. Initially, she wanted to point out that she had been gone a long time over the summer. However, Kendal was out of town for a month, which was also quite some time not to see someone. Perhaps the two just grew accustomed to not seeing one another every moment of the day. Aria hoped that this did not mean the end to their relationship.

"Well, they are still going together to Snow White's party this weekend," Aria recalled, hopeful. "Maybe being in the other world will help spur up their own feelings towards each other."

In the region in the other world where Aria was born, was a place where happy endings always occur. This land also strengthens romantic feelings within a person, though sometimes they are a little too intense. Aria recalled when she was first there with Derek, how she passionately kissed him even though the two had not even started dating. Just last spring when all six of them went there, Ian spontaneously proposed to Kendal and she accepted. The couple did not even ponder how much this would not work out until they returned to the modern world. Fortunately the two talked it through and their relationship went back to normal after the incident.

"Yeah, hopefully you're right," Vanessa agreed, as they two entered their History classroom.

When Aria and Vanessa approached their desk, they found Kendal was already there.

"Hey guys," Kendal greeted as the other two girls sat down in the row beside her.

"Hey," they both said back.

Having still a couple minutes before class started, the three decided to chat.

"So are you looking forward to this weekend?" Aria asked Kendal.

"Yeah, definitely," Kendal answered as she pulled out her textbook.

"How are we getting downtown?" Vanessa asked. "Are we all riding together?"

"Adora said she could take some of us," Aria replied, "but her car's not big enough to hold all six of us."

Vanessa then looked at Kendal and mentioned, "Well, Ian has a car. He can take some of us, right?"

Kendal shook her head. "Ian's not going anymore."

Vanessa gawked at her. "What? Why not?"

"He's got other plans this weekend with some of the guys on the Football team," Kendal responded with a sigh.

"Is this something Derek needs to be at too?" Aria asked her.

"No," Kendal said. "They're just going to practice some and then hang out together after that."

"And you're letting him bail like that?" Vanessa demanded in shock.

"I can't force him to go if he doesn't want to," Kendal snapped at her. "Besides, Ian pointed out that after what happened last spring with the whole proposal thing, it's probably not a good idea for us to go together again."

"Yeah but…" Vanessa began, but before she could finish, the door opened and Professor Stratford walked in.

On the first day of school, their History teacher insisted that the class refer to him as Professor rather than just Mr. He never explained why. Aria could only assume he got his Doctors, but if that was the case, then why not lecture at a University? He appeared rather elderly. With the straggly graying hair, several students would joke around and call him Einstein. Professor Stratford appeared more like how Aria imagined their Chemistry teacher rather than their History teacher.

"Alrighty, class," Professor Stratford began enthusiastically. "Today, we will discuss Attila the Hun…"

Aria found her mind too distracted to pay attention. Instead, she glanced over at both of her friends. She was starting to see what Vanessa meant about Ian and Kendal. She hoped they could work out whatever they were going through. They had been going out for over two years at this point and they always seemed real happy together. Now, Ian either seemed to have lost interest in the relationship or simply taking it for granted. Aria wished she could think of something to help. She could see now, by how Kendal snapped at Vanessa earlier, she was starting to get bitter about this. Aria could not blame her. She imagined if Derek had suddenly bailed out at the last minute, she would be a bit aggravated too.

After class, the three girls did not continue their conversation on this coming weekend. Instead, they said a brief goodbye before heading off to their final class for the day.

Once 8th period Band ended for Aria, she decided to stop by Myrtle's classroom on the way to her locker. As she approached the room, she saw the door was only opened a crack. Aria placed her hand on the door and began to push it open but then stopped. Peering into the door window, she noticed Myrtle was not alone. Mr. Connor, their Chemistry teacher, stood next to her desk, talking with her. Aria leaned in closer so she could listen. Fortunately, there were not a lot of students in this area of the hall, making it easier for her to hear.

"Well, thanks for the advice, Ms. Malone," Mr. Connor was saying. "This is officially my first year teaching anywhere so it's nice to be able to talk to someone with experience…"

"It's interesting of all the teachers here you chose to come to me for advice," Myrtle said back. "After all, last year I was only a substitute so that would make this my first year as an official teacher here at this school."

"Really?" he asked. "That's surprising. You really seem like you know what you're doing."

Aria too found it interesting that Mr. Connor chose Myrtle to get advice from, especially considering its already been a month since school started. Not to mention, their Chemistry teacher never seemed to have any problems with the class. He did not act at all like it was his first year teaching. Aria, however, pondered up another possible reason of why he stood in Myrtle's classroom right now.

The moment Aria spotted Vanessa coming the down the hall from her most recent class, she flagged her down.

"Vanessa, come here!" Aria insisted, waving her hands.

"What is it?" Vanessa asked, as she stepped next to Aria.

Aria lowered her voice to a whisper. "I think our new Chemistry teacher is hitting on Myrtle."

"No way!" Vanessa gasped, leaning in to listen. "What are they talking about?"

Mr. Connor was a pretty good-looking man. He had short blonde hair and blue-green eyes along with a smoothly shaved baby face. Several of the girls in Aria's grade had a crush on him. Aria recalled at first feeling slightly apprehensive about him, because it seems every time an attractive teacher shows up at Sheerwood, they end up being a villain from the other world. Mr. Connor, however, never demonstrated any suspicious behavior and seemed quite nice. Aria figured if he were someone he would have made a move by now. Also, Myrtle probably would have recognized him.

"So maybe sometime after work we can go and have coffee if you like," Mr. Connor suggested, with a hint of quiver in his tone.

"Oh my God, he's asking her out!" Aria squealed in whisper.

Myrtle then answered, "Well, I do from time to time see teachers here go out for social gatherings, but I have never done so. However, perhaps I should give it a try…"

"So is that a yes?" Mr. Connor asked with suppressed eagerness.

"Sure," she replied, sounding more indifferent than him. "I also noticed a most of the teachers here call one another by their first names so you can call me Myrtle."

"Great, you can call me Casey," he answered back.

Vanessa looked at Aria and grinned. "First names! That's a start!"

After Mr. Connor said goodbye, he started towards the door. Aria and Vanessa quickly moved away and pretended like they were chatting a few feet away. Mr. Connor did not appear to notice anything suspicious as he merely smiled and nodded in their direction before closing the door. Just moments after, Myrtle herself appeared. Unlike their Chemistry teacher, she seemed to know just what they were up to.

"Miss Rosenberg, Miss Cooper," she began with a raised eyebrow. "Perhaps you two would like to come in my classroom and chat for a moment?"

With their heads down, the girls followed Myrtle into her classroom.

"Well?" Myrtle said as she sat down at her desk. "Aria, did you actually come to my room to ask me something or were you two only interested in eavesdropping?"

"We didn't mean to eavesdrop," Aria responded, quickly. "I just wanted to ask you something, but I saw you were already talking to Mr. Connor so I didn't want to interrupt. That would have been rude."

"Interesting, where as I suppose its perfectly polite to listen to other people's conversation," Myrtle pointed out with a smirk.

Aria huffed and said, "You're right. We're sorry."

"We're not really in trouble, are we?" Vanessa asked, apprehensively.

Myrtle shrugged and said, "No, I'm just curious what it is about my coffee plans with Mr. Connor that is so intriguing?"

The two girls glanced at each other, before Aria replied with, "You do realize he was asking you out on a date right? He likes you. That's why he came to you for teaching advice before. He needed an excuse to talk to you."

Myrtle appeared slightly take aback by this new information. "How can you be certain that's how he feels? He never said any such thing."

"He doesn't have to," Vanessa chimed in. "When a guy looks for reasons to hang out with a girl that's how we can tell he's into her around here."

"Really…" Myrtle considered before adding, "Well that's unfortunate then."

"Why?" Aria demanded, startled. "He seems really nice, not to mention cute. You should give him a chance."

"And what if he were to somehow find out that I am really an evil fairy from another world?" Myrtle challenged. "I can't see him being too found of me then."

"Well, you're not evil anymore," Vanessa pointed out.

"I don't think that's the point," Aria said, shooting Myrtle a sympathetic look before advising, "You should still get to know him. That won't hurt. As long as you don't do magic in front of him there's no way he'll find out anything. And who knows, maybe once he knows you well enough he'll be able to take the truth. People can surprise you sometimes."

Instead of responding to that, Myrtle merely huffed and said, "Let's skip to the part where you tell me why you came to my classroom in the first place."

Aria had to think for a moment to remember. "Oh, I just wanted to ask you a little about the evil queen before the party this weekend."

"I see," Myrtle said, appearing more relaxed now. "What did you want to ask me about her?"

Aria had about a million things she wanted to know, but she could not think of just what to ask, so she began with, "Do you know her?"

"Yes, all the villains in our world formed a club where we get together and have tea while plotting our evil plans," Myrtle answered casually with a smirk.

"Pretty sure she's messing with you," Vanessa muttered.

Aria rolled her eyes and pressed on, "I mean have you ever met her before, or how much do you know about her?"

"I have met her, yes, but only briefly," Myrtle responded more seriously. "Her name is Sahrissa. As you might expect, she takes great care in her appearance. One thing that might interest you is she was not born royalty. No one really knows the details on her story, but I do know her family was poor. She had to work to get to where she is now. The first prince to marry her admired her ambition and confidence and that's why he choose her as his bride."

"Huh, she kind of sounds like Kendal," Vanessa pointed out, bluntly.

Aria shot her an exasperated expression. "Vanessa!"

"I meant the confident and pretty part, not the evil part," Vanessa defended quickly.

Aria then turned her head back to Myrtle. "Do you know what made her become evil in the first place?"

Myrtle raised her eyebrow. "What makes you so certain she wasn't always evil?"

"Well, you said she came from a poor family so she couldn't have always been magical," Aria theorized. "So, in that case she must have been an ordinary girl, just human."

Myrtle sighed, sounding a bit exasperated. "Oh Aria, you tend to forget in the fairy tale region, everything is much more black and white. Good is good and evil is evil. It's as simple as that."

"It wasn't that simple with you," Aria reminded her.

Back when Myrtle was a purely good fairy, she was chosen to be the bride of Lord Argarion, the former evil ruler of Evalius. Each bride chosen for him was sacrificed so he could steal her youth and remain young. Myrtle was the first one to manage to escape. She, however, had to use dark magic to do so, which led to her being rejected by the other fairies. Myrtle then followed the evil path because she felt there was no other way for her to go.

"My situation was a bit unique I suppose," Myrtle admitted, "but you have to trust me, all you need to know about Sahrissa is that she's the evil queen and you would do well to be weary of her."


	6. Chapter 5 The Fairest

_Chapter 5_

_The Fairest_

Snow White's party took place during the day just outside the castle. The cloudless sky was a crystal blue and the sun looked like a shimmering diamond placed in it. Off to the side, there were tables aligned containing various flavored cakes, all decorated to look like castles. The front court had a band of musicians that played surprisingly upbeat music, fun to dance to. Aria and her friends enjoyed themselves, even know they all knew the evil queen was among them.

Aria noticed the queen's hair was a sheer blonde, similar to how Kendal used to have hers. She recalled at Snow White's tea party last spring, the queen had brown hair. Adora informed her that like girls in the modern world, they enjoyed changing their hair color here too.

"I'm so glad you and your friends could make it, Princess Aria!" Snow White greeted enthusiastically, giving her a grand embrace.

"Thanks for inviting us," Aria replied, returning the hug, "and happy birthday!"

"Thank you!" Snow White beamed brightly, taking Aria's hands. "One of the next songs will be pairings, so you and your true love should dance together."

Aria smiled. It still sounded strange to hear about her 'true love' as she was still in high school. However, it sounded less strange here.

"Tell your friends also," Snow White continued, looking past Aria and then frowned for a moment. "I thought your friend, Lady Kendal, had someone."

"Oh right," Aria said, briefly glancing back towards that friend. "Uh… he couldn't make it."

"That's too bad," Snow sympathized but then smiled. "Well, she can dance with one of my suitors. My stepmother, the queen, has summoned several princes here, seeking my hand in marriage. Since I cannot dance with all of them at once, it would be nice for them to have someone to dance with. Besides, I've noticed they seem to be looking at her more than me. Your friend is very pretty."

Aria did not even notice until this moment, but Snow's observation proved accurate. The princes that came all seemed to have their eyes on Kendal.

Despite her instincts, Aria nodded and said, "That's a good idea. I think she'll like that."

"Great!" Snow White then went over to Kendal and took her arm. She pulled her towards one of the princes to introduce them.

"What's going on?" Derek asked from behind Aria.

Aria offered a small smile before explaining, "Snow's just finding someone for Kendal to dance with since Ian's not here. That's all."

"Oh… kay." Derek looked over towards Kendal and Snow, a bit apprehensive. "Are you sure that's a good idea. This won't cause any drama, will it?"

"It's just dancing. No big deal," Aria defended and then muttered, "Besides, if Ian actually came, this wouldn't be an issue."

"What was that?" Derek asked her.

Aria sighed and said, "I don't know, Derek. Maybe sometime next week, you can talk to Ian and try to figure out what's going on."

"What exactly do you think is going on?" Derek asked, glancing between Aria and Kendal. "Do you think their relationship is in trouble?"

"Well, Vanessa did… and now I'm starting to agree with her," Aria admitted. "It seems lately, Ian just hasn't been interested in doing anything with Kendal. Today just proves it."

Derek glanced over towards Kendal and her new dance partner and pointed out, "Well, that may be true, but we both know Kendal. If she really wanted Ian here with her now, then he would be here."

Aria huffed. She could see what her boyfriend was saying. She had thought since Kendal did not over encourage Ian to do things with her, she was just working on being less controlling. But perhaps, it really meant Kendal was losing interest in their relationship also.

"Let's just dance," Aria said, pulling him forward.

After a few numbers, Aria went to the table for a drink. She used the spoon to pour some of the juice into her goblet. When she sipped the drink, she founded that it had an apple flavor. Aria shot the queen a nervous glance but then decided she was just being paranoid. There was no way the queen would poison everyone here. That would just give away her true nature and it was too early for that.

As Aria stood by the table, she gazed out towards the dancers. Despite Ian not being present, Kendal seemed to be enjoying herself quite well. Aria observed her chatting with one of the princes at this moment.

"Your friend appears to be quite skilled at meeting new people, Princess Aria."

Aria's heart jolted as she turned and saw Queen Sahrissa approaching her. She was not whether or not to bow in her presence.

When she began to bend, Sahrissa waved her hand and said, "That won't be necessary, Princess. After all, you and I are one in the same, or at least we will be once you are queen too."

"Right," Aria mumbled, her nerves agitated.

The queen overall did not appear that threatening. She had a rounded face with light blue eyes. Sahrissa looked to be around the same age as Myrtle and Adora, perhaps even younger. Aria would have never guessed her to be evil had she not already been familiar with the story.

"I've always admired that kind of confidence," Sahrissa continued, her eyes on Kendal and the current prince she spoke with. "Does this friend of yours have a chosen suitor yet?"

"Um…" Aria was really not sure how to best answer this. "She does have someone, yes."

"Interesting… and why is he not present with us now?" the queen inquired, fingering her ruby necklace.

"He couldn't make it," Aria answered simply, hoping that would be enough. "And what of you, Queen Sahrissa. Have you considered ever remarrying again?"

Aria had been told Snow White's father passed away when the young princess was only ten years of age. It was from a disease he caught while traveling.

The queen chuckled at her question. "I've already been married and lost, Princess. At this point, I should probably just accept that it's not going to work out for me." 

"Why?" Aria pressed on, looking into her eyes. "You're still young, not to mention beautiful. I'm certain there are numbers of men out there that don't have anyone. Maybe if you just looked, you could find someone to make you happy."

Queen Sahrissa smiled. Aria could have sworn her eyes watered a little. "You are as kind as they say, Princess Aria. Perhaps you are right. Maybe I should be searching for love instead of…"

As her voice trailed off, Adora approached the two of them.

"Princess Aria," the fairy said. "May I have a word? Please excuse us, Queen Sahrissa."

"Of course," the queen replied. "I need to go inside anyway for a moment's rest. It is an honor to have a fairy present for my stepdaughter's birthday."

Adora forced a smile until Sahrissa turned to retire. The fairy then looked to the princess and inquired, quietly, "Aria, what exactly are you trying to do here?"

Aria sighed. "I don't know. I'm just curious of what she's like. You know she really doesn't seem that bad."

"Aria," Adora began slowly, "you understand you can't change fate here. I know its hard knowing something is going to happen and not being able to do anything about it, but I promise, if you don't say or do anything now, everything will play out as its supposed to. At this time next year, Snow White will be living happily ever after with her true love."

"And what about the queen?" Aria asked. "What will happen to her?"

Adora placed her hand on Aria's shoulder and said, "Oh Aria, your heart is too kind. Many here believe kindness was one of your gifts from us, but it wasn't. You're just naturally that way."

Though Aria felted touched by her words, she still felt compelled to press on, "You're avoiding the question, Adora."

"Well, you know how things work here," Adora said. "Good is good and evil is evil. Nothing can change that. But good always does win. You have to understand, Aria. You can't try to change anything that is pre-fated. If you do, you could make things worse. If you get too involved in this story you might get mixed in, but since you're not suppose to be in this story, things might not work out so well…"

"Do you mean the mirror might actually say my name instead?" Aria asked, with a raised brow. "If that happens, I just won't eat apples ever again." She then gazed up at the castle and wondered aloud, "Do you think that's what she's doing right now, talking to her mirror?"

Adora sighed and nodded. "I believe so, yes. I'm going to make certain everything is happening as it should."

After the fairy left, Vanessa came up beside Aria and asked, "Are you alright?"

Aria nodded. "Yeah, I just got a little tired."

"Where's Adora going?" Vanessa wondered.

Aria huffed and replied, "She's just going to make sure I'm not Fairest in the Land."

"Well, if you are for any reason, all you have to do is stay away from apples while you're visiting here, right?"

Aria could not help but chuckle. "That's exactly what I said. Also, if worse comes to worse, Derek could always wake me up again."

After Vanessa finished her drink, she went back to dance with Walter. Aria was about to make her way back to Derek, but then a frantic Adora returned.

"Aria," Adora hissed, grabbing the princess's arm urgently. "Gather all your friends. We need to leave now and return to your world."

"Why?" Aria eyes, already scanning the area for her friends.

"It's the magic mirror," Adora answered, still whispering. "It didn't choose Snow White as Fairest in the Lands."

Aria looked at her blankly and asked, quietly, "Did it pick me?"

Adora shook her head. "No Aria, you weren't chosen. It chose your friend, Kendal. If she remains here, she is the one Queen Sahrissa will come after."


	7. Chapter 6 The Principal

_Chapter 6_

_The Principal_

Aria learned that since Kendal was the most recent chosen bride of Lord Argarion, and the last one alive, aside from Myrtle, that gave her connections to that land, making her apart of that world. Aria wished she had thought of that before. Now, she did not know what was going to happen. Adora said since the queen was ignorant of the portal to this world, as long as Kendal stayed in Nebraska, she should be safe.

That Monday morning on the way to lunch, Aria decided it was time to tell everyone. She had been dreading this moment for a while. How do you tell one of your best friends her life might be in danger? She figured Kendal at least had the right to know, and so did Ian. Even though their relationship appeared to be struggling, Aria was certain he would care if Kendal's life were in danger.

When Aria approached her lunch table, she found her other five friends were already there, chatting as though nothing were wrong. She took in a deep breath before dreadfully strolling to the table to take her seat.

"It was really a lot of fun, Ian. You should have gone," Kendal was saying. "The music was really upbeat and fun to dance to."

"Yeah, and a lot of guys had fun dancing with Kendal," Vanessa jested.

Kendal shot her an exasperated look and rolled her eyes. "Really Vanessa?"

Vanessa shrugged. "What, they did."

"Wait, what guys?" Ian asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Oh you know, just a bunch of fairy tale princes," Vanessa answered, smugly. "The usual Prince Charmings you might find in that world."

"All I did was dance, nothing more," Kendal insisted, shooting Vanessa a sharp glare. "They were all there as Snow White's suitors, so they were there for her."

"Yeah, until they saw you," Vanessa muttered with a smirk. That expression soon fainted as she glance over at her other friend. "Is something wrong, Aria?"

Aria sighed and said, "There's something I need to tell you all."

"What's going on?" Walter asked.

"It's about the queen's magic mirror," Aria explained. "It didn't say Snow White was the Fairest in the Lands."

Derek looked at his girlfriend, intently, softly pounding his fist on the table. "It chose you, didn't it?"

"No, it didn't pick me," Aria answered quickly, shaking her head. She then glanced across the table and answered. "It chose you, Kendal."

For a moment, they all just gaped at her, appearing unsure of what to say. The other four just glanced between Aria and Kendal, waiting for someone to break the ice.

Kendal finally pressed her hands on the table and said, "But wait, didn't Adora tell you that mirror would only select someone born in that land or that had ties with that world or whatever?"

"Perhaps your union with Lord Argarion counted," Walter suggested. "That would give you a tie to the other world."

Aria nodded. "That's what Adora thinks."

Vanessa then looked over to Kendal. "So you're the Fairest in the Lands of that world?" She then reached her hand up for a high five. "Nice!"

"Thanks." Kendal smiled and slapped her hand. "Too bad I can't tell my mom."

Ian then put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder and declared, "I'm dating the Fairest in the Land."

Aria gawked at her friends in disbelief. They were not reacting to this news at all like she expected them to.

"Okay Kendal, you do understand the evil queen in that world wants to kill the Fairest in the Land, right?" Aria asked her.

Still, Kendal did not appear at all startled. "Well, its not like she's going to find me here. She doesn't know about the portal to this world, right?"

"Well, no," Aria admitted, "but still, this means you can't go back to the other world for a while."

Kendal shrugged. "Okay, I'll just stay here. What do you think she's going to do when she can't find me?"

Aria let out a deep breath and replied, "Lets just hope she decides to give up."

xXx

For the next couple weeks, none of Aria's friends made that big of a deal about the magic mirror's revelation. The even celebrated it together. Aria herself finally decided that it was unlikely anything bad would happen if they stayed in the modern world.

Kendal's modeling classes began to get more involved. Aria and Vanessa barely saw her outside of school. They did agree to go to her first show, which was going to take place in Sheerwood's auditorium. Kendal's mom had gone frantic and began acting as though it were her daughter's career. Mrs. Lewis would pack only a Special K meal bar for her lunch, which Kendal merely tossed and bought her own food from the cafeteria.

Today's hop topic was the fact that Principal Whiteman mysteriously did not show up at school. Several teachers tried to call him but had no success on getting a hold of him. It was not until lunch that day that Kendal finally managed to scrap up the news on their principal's whereabouts.

"So apparently Principal Whiteman won a trip to Hawaii and just took off," Kendal informed after they all sat down for lunch. "It was the assistant principal that finally got a hold of him. He claimed he thought he called, but clearly he didn't. He should be gone at least a week, assuming they let him come back at all."

"No principal for a week?" Ian commented. "Cool."

"I'm sure either they'll find a sub or our assistant principal will take over," Walter pointed out.

"Maybe Myrtle should be the principal," Derek said with a smirk.

Aria chuckled and added, "She probably could if she wanted to."

Kendal opened her lunch and rolled her eyes as she pulled out a meal bar, and grumbled, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Why don't you just pack your own lunch?" Vanessa asked.

"I did pack my own lunch," Kendal said, annoyed. "My mother must have switched the stuff I had out when I went upstairs to get my backpack."

As Kendal started off towards the lunch line, Vanessa commented, "You know, it's a good thing Kendal is pretty self-confident about her appearance with the way her mom is."

Aria sighed and pointed out, "Well, she is the Fairest in the Lands."

xXx

Sheerwood went over a week without a principal. It was not until they came to school on the second Monday in November, it was announced in Homeroom they had a new principal.

The Junior class had both Myrtle and Mr. Connor as their Homeroom teacher. On Mondays, they all went to Mr. Connor, Wednesdays Myrtle, and Fridays, they alternated. Tuesdays and Thursdays, the girls went with Myrtle and the boys, Mr. Connor. Aria did not understand the point of this. If Myrtle was supposed to speak with the girls on matters that only applied to women, she clearly did not bother.

"Okay class, replacing Principal Whiteman for now, will be Principal Sherman," Mr. Connor announced, looking at his paper. "Our staff request that you show her the same respect you would show any principal, and… this really goes into a lot of detail about that." He placed the notes on his desk and shrugged his arms. "You guys obviously know to behave yourselves for the principal, right?"

"He and Myrtle really would go well together," Aria whispered, leaning over to Vanessa, who smirked and nodded in agreement.

Mr. Connor then picked up another packet and muttered, "I think I was supposed to announce something about the Homecoming Dance…"

Whatever the class needed to know about their upcoming dance, they did not find out at this moment. The heard a soft knock on the door.

"Oh, that's her, Principal Sherman," Mr. Connor said, walking over to the door to get it.

When he opened it, all the students grew stiffly silent. They heard a female voice say, "I was just going around to each class to introduce myself in person for the students."

That voice sounded familiar but Aria could not recall just where she heard it before. Just moments later she found out. Mr. Connor opened his door wider so she could enter.

"Hello class. I am Principal Sherman. I am looking forward to a fine year with each one of you."

The moment Aria's eyes rose to her face, her heart sunk as she let out a gasp. Replacing their former Principal Whiteman was none other than the vain, wicked Queen Sahrissa.


	8. Chapter 7 A New Villain

_Chapter 7_

_A New Villain_

That very same day, the six of them gathered in Myrtle's class after school let out.

"So what are we going to do?" Aria demanded, pacing in front of Myrtle's desk.

"She can't do anything to me here, right?" Kendal asked, sitting on top of one of the front row desk. "I mean, everything bad that's happened to one of us before took place in the other world."

"Magic is less predictable here when used, I have noticed," Myrtle admitted. "If Queen Sahrissa were to play it safe, she would wait to use magic to make her curse back in her own world."

"That's right, all the real bad stuff always happens in the other world," Ian observed. "So as long as Kendal stays here, she should be safe."

"Just don't accept any apples from stranger," Vanessa advised.

"Obviously," Kendal muttered.

Derek then said, "Well, we already know how this game works. The villain comes in for a day, spots their victim and then goes back and sends Edmund to lure them in." He eyed Myrtle and added, "At least, that's why you and Lord Argarion did when he posed as Mr. Evans."

Vanessa pointed out, "Well, its not like she can use Edmund now, considering…"

Edmund started off as Myrtle's minion who was sent to this world to seduce Aria until she fell under the sleeping curse. He did the same with Kendal, while working for Lord Argarion. Just last spring, he returned on his own agenda to start a war in the Midlands of the other world, using Vanessa and Kendal. This mission got him killed at the Temple of Nemesis.

"We still should exercise caution," Myrtle said. "I know the villains of our world may appear predictable to you but if she chooses to stay in this world longer, she might come up with some new ideas."

"Great," Kendal said, sliding off the desk. "So we just need to see how long she stays."

As she started towards the door, Vanessa inquired, "Where are you going?"

"I have my modeling class now," Kendal said, looking as though it should be obvious. "I'm already late."

"Wait, you're still going to do that?" Vanessa asked. "Are you sure it's a good idea to do things that draw attention to yourself, you know with…"

"What do my modeling classes have to do with the evil queen?" Kendal demanded. "Besides, I'm not going to go into hiding just because she happens to show up to the show. This is my world and I won't let her control my life."

After the door shut behind her, Vanessa huffed and said, "Yeah, she's going to die with that attitude."

Ian then stood up and announced, "Well, I think I'll go drive her to class."

"You do realize her classes are in this school, don't you?" Aria reminded him.

"Right," Ian muttered, lifting his hand behind him. "I'll go walk her there then."

After he left, Aria asked Myrtle, "So what do you think we should do?"

Myrtle sighed and responded with, "I'll go back and see what the other fairies think tonight. We can't really stop her here but once she returns to her home we can get her there before she can do anything to Kendal."

Aria nodded. It sounded like a good plan, just so long as whatever Queen Sahrissa had planned for Kendal took place in the other world.

As Kendal walked down the hall for her modeling class, Ian caught up with her.

"Hey, wait up," he said as he made it beside her.

Kendal huffed. "If you're going to try to talk me out of going, Ian, don't waste your breath."

"I wasn't going to try that," Ian said. "I just wanted to walk with you there, maybe watch some of the class."

"You never showed any interest before," Kendal said, still looking straight ahead.

"Of course I'm interested!" Ian replied quickly. "I just haven't had the time before now."

They went into the school's auditorium for the class, which was a rehearsal for the girls so some of the parents were invited. The first thing that caught Ian's eye was the table of various pastries. He went over and grabbed some.

"Hey Babe, you should get a snack before you start," Ian insisted, motioning his hand. "Doesn't this thing go on for like an hour at least?"

Kendal nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

She then grabbed a single pound cake wedge and took a bite of it.

"This taste like cinnamon apple flavored," she commented. "It's pretty good."

"Kendal, what are you doing?"

Kendal turned and saw her mother storming over in their direction.

"You can't eat that!" Mrs. Lewis fumed. "It's loaded with calories!"

"It's just a little piece, Mom. Chill out!" Kendal argued back.

"If you keep eating like this, you'll gain weight," her mom said, "and you won't be able to do this anymore!"

"For God's sake, Mom, I'm not going to be doing this for…"

"Hello there."

Kendal stopped shouting as she noticed the evil queen approaching them. Ian took her hand and held it tightly.

She extended her hand out to Mrs. Lewis and said, "I'm Principal Sherman, filling in for Principal Whiteman at this time."

Mrs. Lewis smiled. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Regina Lewis and this is my daughter, Kendal."

"Ah yes," Sahrissa said, "I've met quite a lot of students on my first day, but your daughter really seemed to stand out. She has such a beautiful face. I can see why this is for her. I used to be into modeling myself. That's why I chose to be involved in these classes here while I'm filling in."

"Why thank you," Mrs. Lewis said, with a broad smile. "I'm sure Kendal can learn quite a lot from you."

"Indeed," the queen agreed.

Mrs. Lewis then excused herself to help select the modeling outfits. As Queen Sahrissa took a step in towards Kendal, Ian's grip on her hand tightened.

"So, are you still going to continue this path?" she inquired of Kendal, curiously.

"If you think I'm going to quit just because you're here, you clearly don't know me at all," Kendal replied, darkly.

"I see you don't back down easily," the queen observed. "I would be lying to say I didn't admire that about you."

Kendal gritted her teeth and added, "I don't back down at all."

Sahrissa chuckled, "Well, we'll see about that."

As the evil queen strolled away, Ian said, "I really don't want you to do this anymore, Kendal."

"If I quit, then I'm just letting her win," Kendal replied, looking out in the direction the queen walked away in.

"Just as long as nothing bad happens to you, she hasn't won," he insisted, placing both hands on her shoulder. "You understand that, right?"

When Kendal failed to answer, Ian sighed. He seemed to know there was no way he could change her mind.

He held out another piece of the pound cake and said, "Fine, but if you're going to continue this, at least eat like a normal person. It's crazy how some of these girls starve themselves for this thing." As she nodded and took it he added, "Just stand behind me. "I'll let you know if your mom's coming."

As Kendal got down to the last bite of her cake, she felt a sudden sharp pain in her stomach, which soon turned to nausea. Her head felt moist and her body warm.

"Are you okay?" Ian asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah," Kendal answered, quietly. "I'm just going to use the bathroom before the class starts."


	9. Chapter 8 The Wrong Rumor

_Chapter 8_

_The Wrong Rumor_

A couple weeks passed by and nothing happened. Queen Sahrissa remained at the school, posed as her alias, Principal Sherman. Kendal had no intention of leaving to the other world. If this queen planned to fight her, she would have to do it right here.

Kendal pretty much went about her life as though nothing were wrong. She could see the fear clouded in all her friends eyes, but Kendal herself refused to give this evil queen the satisfaction of seeing that same fear reflect in her own eyes.

Her friends, on the other hand, did not bother to conceal their own fear, especially around Kendal herself. This day at lunch was no different.

"I still think I should get Myrtle to go back to the other world, get the other fairies, and bring them here to stop the evil queen," Aria insisted.

"What's the point?" Kendal demanded, opening her lunchbox. "They can't even use their magic here, right?"

"It is more difficult and less predictable," Aria admitted, "but maybe they can think of something."

"She's been here for two weeks," Kendal pointed out, pulling out her ham sandwich and apple juice. "So far, nothing's happened."

"No yet, but she's clearing taken an interest to your modeling," Aria pointed out.

While Kendal took a bite of her food and then sipped her juice box, Ian added, "Yeah Babe, I still think maybe you should quit that. I mean, if it's your mom you're worried about, I'm sure she's understand… eventually."

"For the one millionth time, I'm am not quitting modeling because of her!" Kendal snapped, slamming her drink on the table, "and I'm not doing it because of my mom in the first place!"

Vanessa sighed and then said, "Okay Kendal, everyone here is too nice to point this out so I'm going to say it. I think you might be letting your pride get the best of you here."

Kendal whirled her head back around at her. "Really? Just because I don't want her to think she's getting to me, suddenly I'm too prideful?"

"All I'm saying, is you probably see this as a competition," Vanessa argued back, "and that's a really dangerous way of thinking considering we don't know what she's capable of."

As Kendal took another sip of juice, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Trying to ignore it, she debated, "If this were a competition, Vanessa, I would be actively trying to kill her, too, which I'm not. Besides, I still don't think she can do anything to me here. As long as I don't get lured through the portal, I should be fine."

Kendal then began to take another bite of her sandwich, but all of the sudden the idea of eating anymore made her nauseated. She placed it down and then took another sip of juice before standing up.

"Where are you going?" Ian asked.

"Bathroom," Kendal answered, simply. "I'll be right back."

As Kendal made her way to the bathroom, she began to feel her body warm just like it did the last time it happened. She had barely made it to the stall in time before the sickness hit her.

After she came out of the stall, she saw Lacey Goodman, one of her friends, by the sink. 

"Hey Kendal, are you okay," she asked, looking concerned. "You didn't sound too good in there."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kendal answered, calmly walking by the sink to wash her hands. "I guess my lunch just didn't sit well with me, but I feel much better now."

"Oh, okay," Lacey muttered.

As Kendal left the bathroom, she sighed and counted her blessings that it was only Lacey and not her other old friend, Karen Wales. Had it been the latter, she would have likely spread the wrong rumor to the entire school about what she thought happened in the bathroom.

xXx

After Gym, Aria went to her locker, pulled her bag out, and grabbed her textbook for History class. When she closed her locker she noticed Lacey Goodman walking in her direction.

"Hey Aria," Lacey called out, softly as she approached her locker.

"Hi Lacey," Aria answered, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. "What' up?"

Lacey nervously ran her fingers through her hair, "I just wanted to tell you I ran into Kendal in the bathroom at lunch today. She sounded pretty sick while she was in there, but then she came out and said she was fine. I know you've been hanging out with her more lately, so I was wondering if you think maybe she would…"

Aria could already tell where Lacey was going with this without her having to say it aloud.

"I'll talk to her," Aria said. "Thanks Lacey."

Aria then decided to go ahead and meet up with Kendal in the classroom. She was not sure of exactly what to make of what Lacey had suggested. Of all the girls at Sheerwood, Kendal was definitely the last person she would suspect to fall victim to any kind of eating disorder. She had always been the most confident person Aria had ever known. However, Aria then began to wonder if Vanessa had been right about modeling for Kendal all along. Perhaps it was too much pressure for her. Not to mention, it was no secret Mrs. Lewis always gave her daughter a hard time about her diet. Aria recalled that began since she first met Kendal back in elementary school.

Aria sat down in her usual desk beside Kendal. Professor Stratford was not there yet. Aria noticed he had attempted to draw out some sort of battle on the white board.

"Hey Kendal," she greeted casually.

"Hey," Kendal said back, as she opened her book to the chapter they were on.

Aria tried to think of just what to say. She did not want to just come out and ask her friend if she was intentionally making herself purge. All Kendal would do was deny it and just get upset with her. Also, she was only going by what Lacey said. Maybe it was just a fluke. Aria still could not help but feel concerned.

"Um… Kendal," she began but soon got interrupted by Vanessa bursting in.

"Just one minute before class starts," Vanessa panted, sinking in her seat as her backpack fell to the ground. "And the teacher's not even here. Not too bad."

"That's still cutting it close," Kendal observed with a smirk, as their professor entered the classroom. Moments later the bell rang.

"Okey dokey," Professor Strafford said, as he grabbed his marker and began to draw furiously on the board. "Today, we will continue our discussion on the Vikings. The first thing we will discuss is…"

The class, however, did not find out the first thing they needed to know about Vikings, at least not at that moment. The classroom speakers made a buzzing noise, before an announcement was made.

"Kendal Lewis, please report to Principal Sherman's office."


	10. Chapter 9 Like Me

_Chapter 9_

_Like Me_

As Kendal stood up, Aria whirled her head around and shook it furiously.

"Kendal, what are you thinking?" she demanded in a hushed tone. "You can't go!"

"What am I supposed to do?" Kendal said back. "Its not like I can refuse the principal."

"There's got to be some way out of this," Vanessa added, looking to Aria for a suggestion.

"Miss Lewis?" Professor Stratford called out, eying the door.

Aria then grabbed Kendal's arm, slapping her other hand on her desk, and whispered, "Wait, let me think."

"Miss Lewis, you can always come back later and get the lesson on the Viking," their professor suggested, "or perhaps one of your friends will share their notes with you later on. Although, I don't recall ever seeing Miss Cooper write anything down."

"Right," Kendal said with a nod.

As she started to walk forward, Aria hissed, "Get Myrtle to go with you. I don't think she has a class this period."

Kendal nodded and then walked out of the classroom. She passed Myrtle's English class, but saw that the room was dark and empty. She figured their fairy teacher must have gone out for a late lunch.

Despite Myrtle's absence, Kendal headed to the Principal's office anyway. She honestly did not believe this queen would actually attempt anything here at this school. Also, as nervous as she felt, Kendal could not help but feel curious about just what Principal Sherman wanted with her at this time.

Taking in a deep breath, Kendal pushed open the door to the school's main office. Mrs. Hall, the office assistant, glanced up from her front desk and smiled.

"She's just right in her office," Mrs. Hall said. "You can go on in."

Kendal just nodded and slowly walked into the main office. All of the sudden, she felt as though she were walking to her own guillotine.

"Come in, Miss Lewis," Principal Sherman called the moment Kendal was in her eye range.

Without a word, Kendal walked in. The evil queen sat in her tall black leather chair, wearing a smug look, her blonde waves falling in front of her shoulders.

"Please, have a seat," Queen Sahrissa insisted.

Kendal sat down on one of the two red chairs in front of the principal's desk. On the corner, sat a golden-rimmed basket, filled with intensely colored red apples. The queen picked up one of these fruits and extended it to Kendal.

Kendal raised her eyebrow. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

Sahrissa chuckled, tossing the apple back in the basket. "No, I supposed as long as I'm in this realm, it won't be that easy."

"If the only reason you brought me here was to attempt to get me to eat one of your apples, you may as well send me back to class," Kendal gritted, clenching the chair arms.

Still smiling, the queen shook her head. "That is not why I brought you here."

"Then why?" Kendal challenged, "I know you want me dead, but you can't do it here, so what's the point?"

"It's simple really," the posed principal answered, leaning back in her chair. "It goes along with the whole reason I came and stayed at this building in the first place. I wanted to see what you were like."

Kendal shifted in her seat, uncomfortably.

"You see, Kendal," Queen Sahrissa continued, "All this time I thought if my magic mirror were to declare anyone the fairest in the land other than myself, it would be my wretched stepdaughter, Snow White. She's so sweet, innocent, and rather gullible. If I were to offer her an apple that may perhaps be poisoned, she were likely eat it and that would be the end of it."

The queen's stared was so intense, Kendal could almost feel it. She tried her best not to appear afraid.

"But the fact that it chose you instead makes this much more interesting," the queen continued with a smirk. "After all, you're more like me."

Kendal started to turn her head and argued, "I'm nothing like you."

"Oh really," Sahrissa replied with a raised brow. "How can you be so sure? I see the same self-confidence in you I've always had, the type of person who isn't afraid to get what they want. We are indeed alike in those ways."

"Maybe," Kendal admitted, "but I'm not evil."

"I wasn't always evil," the queen commented more softly.

Kendal looked her in the eye and wondered aloud, "Did not being fairest in the land set you off that much?"

Sahrissa giggled at that. "Oh no. I would say I've been considered evil far before that."

"But you weren't always," Kendal concluded. "So what happened that did change you?"

"That should not be a concern of yours," she answered, standing up, motioning her hand to the door. "I think now is a good time for you to leave. It sure was nice getting to know you, Kendal."

Kendal looked at her oddly, before standing up and starting towards the door.

"Oh and by the way," Sahrissa added, just as Kendal was about to open the door, "I already made my curse here."

Kendal turned around. "What curse? Nothing's happened to me."

"I'm still waiting for it to take effect," the queen replied, swiftly. "Honestly I'm not sure exactly what will happen in this world, but I suppose that makes it more fun for me. Well, have a nice day, Kendal. Enjoy every moment of life, while you're still breathing."

_**A/N: Since this chapter is rather short, I'll have two chapters out this week. Hope everyone's enjoying the story!**_


	11. Chapter 10 Give Me Your Heart

_Chapter 10_

_Give Me Your Heart_

It was a week before Kendal's first modeling show, which would take place right here at this school. Aria remained determined to figure out a way to stop the queen from whatever she was planning. She decided on order to try and decipher how a villain might think, best talk to one, or at least a former villain.

Aria went to Myrtle's classroom after school that day. They had already spent nearly twenty minutes discussing the matter.

"I'm still not sure what it is you want from me, Aria," Myrtle said, starting to sound exasperated. "It's not like I can just conjure up a spell that goes into Sahrissa's mind that reveals her plan. Magic just doesn't work that way, especially not in this world."

"Yeah but you know kind of how she might think, right?" Aria pointed out. "Maybe you can think of something she might do. According to Kendal, she already made her curse. We just need to find out what that is."

"What exactly do you want me to do?" Myrtle asked, looking the princess in the eye.

Aria shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe try talking to her? Do you think you could get her to tell you anything?"

Myrtle raised her eyebrow. "You think I can get her to confide in another villain?"

"It's a long shot but maybe," Aria admitted with a sigh. "Do you think she knows the whole story of what happened with us in Galatia."

"Honestly, I'm not certain," Myrtle replied, "but perhaps if I can convince her I'm still a villain I can gain her trust."

xXx

The next morning, Myrtle arrived at the school early and headed towards the principal's office. She merely nodded at Mrs. Hall's desk before passing it.

"Oh, Principal Sherman isn't here yet," Mrs. Hall called out, as Myrtle was about to open her door.

Myrtle turned around and smiled. "Oh that's fine. I'll just wait until she gets here."

Before Mrs. Hall could say anything else, Myrtle pushed the door opened and wanted into the vacant office. She had only been in here a couple times when Whiteman was still the principal. Myrtle recalled seeing pictures of his wife and kids on his desk and even the wall. She glanced at the desk, highly doubting she would see any pictures of Snow White lingering about. What Myrtle did observe was a basket of red apples on the desk and on the wall, a painting of a dark red apple with a black background. This office indeed appeared just as a person would expect the office of Snow White's evil queen posing as a principal.

Myrtle sat at the principal's desk in the tall black leather chair. For a moment, she imagined what it would be like if she herself had chosen to disguise as the school principal rather than just a teacher when she first came here to locate Princess Aria.

At the sound of the door being pushed open, Myrtle looked up but it was not Sahrissa who entered.

"Oh, hello Myrtle," Mr. Connor greeted with a smile.

"Hello Casey," Myrtle answered back.

"Uh… do you know where Principal Sherman is," he asked her. "I needed to ask her something about the honors program."

Myrtle shrugged. "I'm not sure, but there is a matter I needed to speak with her on as well."

Casey raised his eyebrow as he looked down at her, sitting at the desk and then jested, "It wouldn't have anything to do with taking over her job now, would it?"

Myrtle chuckled. "No, at least not at this time. It is a private matter though."

"Oh." He glanced at his watch and said, "Well, classes are getting close to starting and I'm doing Homeroom today so my question can wait. I'll see you later, Myrtle."

"Goodbye," she called back as he left.

Myrtle only had to wait a couple more minutes before the door opened again. This time, Sahrissa was the one to enter.

"Myrtle," she greeted, pleasantly. "What an unexpected surprise. I was beginning to wonder if you would come visit me here. It's been a long time."

"Indeed it has," Myrtle muttered in response. "I see you've come a long way since we last spoke."

The queen smirked. "I learn from the best."

"How did you discover the portal?" Myrtle inquired.

"As I said, I learn my tricks from the best," she answered vaguely. "How did you discover the portal?"

Myrtle let out a frustrated huff. "You know, there's no reason to go after the girl. After all, she lives here so she's not the fairest in your land. Your mirror was wrong."

"You actually think you can talk me out of this, Myrtle?" Sahrissa challenged.

"You were not always evil, Sahrissa," Myrtle said.

"Not until I met you," the queen pointed out, as her expression grew smugger. "I've noticed you and Princess Aria seem to be on good terms, but I do wonder, how would she react if she knew more of your past."

Myrtle shook her head. "It doesn't matter because there are some things she will never find out."

"I would not be so certain of that, Myrtle," Sahrissa said, nodding towards the door, which just happened to be opened a crack. As Myrtle dreadfully pushed the door open, the queen added, "Good day, Ms. Malone."

Just as she expected, Myrtle found Aria, standing just outside the door in the main office. Cleary, the young princess heard everything.

"Myrtle," Aria began in a hushed tone, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Myrtle sighed and motioned her hand. "Let's go to my classroom."

Without a word, Aria followed Myrtle to her English classroom. Once they were there, Myrtle closed the door and then sat down at her desk. Aria sat herself on top of the front desk.

When Myrtle hesitated to say anything, Aria offered, "You did know Queen Sahrissa, didn't you? It wasn't just a brief encounter, was it?"

Myrtle let out a hefty breath before admitting, "I did get to know her pretty well."

"So what happened?" Aria inquired on.

"Well, do you remember how I told you she wasn't always royalty? She had to work for what she had?" Myrtle asked her.

Aria nodded.

"That much is indeed true. She did have to work to get where she is now," Myrtle explained. "Before she was queen, Sahrissa was nothing more than a servant girl, working for her own stepmother and two stepsisters." She eyed the princess to see if she was catching on. "Does this sound familiar to you?"

"She was Cinderella?' Aria guessed.

Myrtle nodded. "Yes, or at least that's who she was originally pre-destined to be in her kingdom."

"I don't get it," Aria said. "If her destiny was pre-fated, how did she go from being Cinderella to the Evil Queen in Snow White?"

"People's destinies are pre-fated," Myrtle agreed, "but every now and then there are glitches. As you know, I was never originally supposed to be the fairy that turns evil. It's always the new fairies. However, Lord Argarion decided to invade the Northeast lands in search of his bride at the time. When he did so, he disturbed fate."

Aria remained silent, listening intently.

"Anyway," Myrtle continued leaning back in her chair, "Once I escaped Evalius and first turned evil, I was curious if since I gained my evil magic from another land and was working against fate, if I could change someone else's destiny also."

"So you choose Sahrissa," Aria concluded for her. "But how did you change her fate?"

"I decided to pose as her fairy godmother," Myrtle answered, simply. "By doing that, instead of leading her to the prince she was meant for, where she would have to wait to become queen, I showed her to a man who was already king. This man had recently lost his wife and had an infant daughter."

"And that changed her fate to becoming the Evil Queen?" Aria asked, on the edge of the desk.

Myrtle nodded. "Indeed it did. You see, I befriended her when I first met her. During that time, I convinced her that she would be more satisfied in life if she took vengeance on those who wronged her and took what she wanted without waiting for someone to come and rescue her."

"Well, the last part of that doesn't sound too bad," Aria said with a shrug.

"I suppose not in the world you're familiar with, Aria, but you have to understand, that's not how things are supposed to work in the world you were born in."

Aria huffed and shook her head. Myrtle knew the princess did not care for the way fate worked in the fairy tale world.

"Do you think there is anyway she can turn back?" Aria asked.

Myrtle let out a sigh and shrugged. "I don't know. She's been this way for a while now. Unless she wants a change, it's likely she'll stay on this path."

xXx

"Where is Aria?" Vanessa whispered towards the end of Homeroom, while Mr. Connor continued reading announcements.

Kendal shrugged. "I don't know."

"It's not like her just to not show up to class," Walter added.

"It's only Homeroom," Ian chimed in. "She's probably just with another teacher."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Derek admitted, though he appeared a bit anxious. "I'm still going to go look for her after class."

Kendal just rested her cheek against her hand, waiting for this class to be over. She wasn't all that worried. Kendal imagined Aria just went to talk to Myrtle about the evil queen. Her friend had been talking about doing so since the beginning of the week.

"Well, that's about everything," Mr. Connor said, setting his papers on his desk, "As soon as the bell rings…"

Just as he began to say that, the bell did actually go off.

"Alright, well… I'll see you all later today in class," the Chemistry teacher said, but then added in a lower tone, "Miss Lewis, I will have to ask you to stay behind for just a moment."

"Why does he want to talk to you?" Ian asked, looking at her curiously.

Kendal shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he wants to talk to me about our test last week, though I'm pretty sure I did fine." She then smirked and suggested, "Or maybe he wants advice on asking Myrtle out since he has the hots for her."

Derek gaped at her, utterly bewildered. "What? Mr. Conner likes Myrtle?"

Vanessa gawked at him for a moment and then rolled her eyes. "How can you not tell? He couldn't make it more obvious he's into her."

"Guys can't pick up on that kind of thing as easily as girls can," Ian informed her. "I didn't notice either."

"I could tell he likes her," Walter pointed out.

Vanessa raised her eyebrow to Ian. "See? That's not true."

Ian flung his hand towards Walter and remarked, "Well, he doesn't count. He knows everything!"

They all just laughed, and then everyone except Kendal left the room. Kendal stood up and walked towards Mr. Connor's desk.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Kendal asked him.

Without answering, the teacher kept his back to her and went to close the door. He then locked the door and pulled down the curtain to cover the window.

"Mr. Connor?" Kendal questioned, cautiously taking a step back. "What are you doing?"

Mr. Connor opened his coat and pulled something out. When he gradually turned to face her, Kendal saw that his eyes burned red. In his hand, he held a rusty knife.

Feeling her breaths pace up, Kendal took another step back, this time stumbling into one of the desk.

"Mr. Connor," she panted. "What do you want from me?"

He pointed the knife in her direction, and uttered in a deep tone, "Give me your heart."


	12. Chapter 11 Showdown

_Chapter 11_

_Showdown_

Myrtle walked with Aria to the Chemistry room. Mr. Connor said he would give her the notes for the next day's announcements. Once they were almost there, they found students already emerging in the hall.

"I guess its time for your next class," Myrtle commented. "We probably didn't notice the bell during our discussion."

Aria nodded as she spotted her friends in the hall and then went over to meet up with them. Myrtle continued onto Mr. Connor's class. When she almost arrived, she heard trotting behind her and then turned to see Aria had still decided to follow her.

"Shouldn't you be going to your next class?" Myrtle asked her.

"Vanessa said Kendal was still in Mr. Connor's room," Aria told her. "I just wanted to meet up with her and ask her something before our next class."

Myrtle nodded as she attempted to open his door. "It's locked."

"That's weird," Aria commented, pressing her ear against the door. "I hear screaming… its Kendal! We have to get it open!"

Myrtle reached in the inside of her jacket pocket and pulled out her wand. She quickly charmed the door unlocked before stashing away her magical device.

Aria yanked the door open and burst in. Myrtle followed and they found Kendal cornered against the wall by Mr. Connor, who held up a knife in his hand.

"Casey!" Myrtle screamed out, pulling out her wand again.

Mr. Connor turned with his deep red out. He looked like the victim of a demonic possession. However, once he met Myrtle's eyes, his own began to clear, and his expression transformed from possessed to confused.

"Myrtle?" he questioned, his eyes falling to the knife and then Kendal. "What am I doing?"

Before anyone could say anything, his body fell to the ground, unconscious. Myrtle went beside him, while Aria rushed over to Kendal.

"Are you okay?" Aria demanded, giving her a hug. "What happened?"

Still panting heavily, Kendal answered. "I don't know! It's like something was controlling him. One moment he was normal but then… he said he wanted my heart."

"That sounds like the Huntsman," Aria concluded, momentarily bringing her hand to her head. She then asked Myrtle, "Do you think the queen did this to him?"

Myrtle nodded. "That seems like the most plausible explanation. Sahrissa must have put a charm on him to make him want to take Kendal's heart for her."

"Well, in that case she failed," Kendal said, darkly, and then looked to Myrtle and added, "Because of you. Thanks for saving my life."

"Your gratitude is much appreciated, Kendal, but I didn't do anything," Myrtle informed her.

Aria tilted her head, curiously. "But you must have. I saw you pull out your wand. How else could the charm have broken?"

Myrtle sighed looking down at his unconscious body. "He must have come out of it by himself."

Kendal then smirked. "Maybe true love broke his curse. After all, he seemed to snap out of it the moment he saw you."

"I highly doubt that," Myrtle said, glaring at Aria. "Did you gossip to all your friends about Mr. Connor's supposed crush on me?"

Aria smiled and shook her head. "I didn't have to tell Kendal anything for her to figure it out."

Myrtle rolled her eyes and ignored that statement, looking back to Kendal "Anyway, Queen Sahrissa has now officially made an attempt on your life. We need to come up with a way to protect you from her."

"How?" Kendal asked.

Aria then suggested, "Why don't we get the other fairies? Maybe they can find a way to hide her from the queen."

"No," Kendal argued. "I'm not hiding from her!" She then asked Myrtle, "Isn't there a way I can take her head on or something?"

"Are you crazy?" Aria demanded, turning furiously towards her. "With the kind of magic she has, who knows what will happen to you!"

"There's no way I'm hiding from her!" Kendal debated, stubbornly. "That's what cowards do!"

"That's what people who want to stay alive do!" Aria insisted, fuming. "You know, Vanessa's right! You do let your pride get in the way sometimes!"

"Just because I'm refusing to run from her doesn't mean I'm letting my pride get in the way," Kendal insisted, as she reached the door. "I will find a way against her!"

With that, Kendal was gone. Aria tried to calm her breaths as she grumbled, "Oh my god, she is sometimes so unbelievably stubborn!"

"She kind of reminds me of Sahrissa, when I first met her," Myrtle commented, still knelt down beside Mr. Connor.

Aria looked at him and asked more calmly. "What are we going to do with him?"

"I'll take care of him," Myrtle said. "You just go on to your next class."

After Aria closed the door behind her, Myrtle used her magic to move Mr. Connor to his sofa, which rested against the wall under the window. She went to his main desk and saw a beaker with a red substance. She then poured another green liquid into it. It popped and produced a strong odor.

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes.

"Myrtle?" he asked, slowly sitting up, rubbing his eyes. "What happened?"

Myrtle walked back over towards the couch and eyed him, curiously. "Do you remember anything?"

He sat up straighter and shook his head. "I was just ending today's announcements and dismissed Homeroom. I think I was going to plan today's lesson after that, but I don't remember getting to it. How did I get unconscious?"

"I found you that way," Myrtle answered. "I came in here to get tomorrow's announcements, and when I got here, you were lying on the floor in front of your desk. I called the ambulance and when they examined you they said you probably inhaled too much fumes and passed out from it," she tilted her head towards the desk as she told this story, "They then said you just needed to lie down and when you wake up you should be fine."

Mr. Connor stood up and walked over to his desk. "That's crazy! What was I thinking mixing these two chemicals together?"

"Perhaps you were a bit distracted," Myrtle suggested, offering a shrug.

"I guess," Mr. Connor consented, "but I still don't remember any of this."

Myrtle walked over to him, stroking the side of his face. "You might have hit your head when you fell and that's why you can't remember any details. Perhaps I should call back the ambulance?"

Mr. Connor shook his head, appearing much more subdued and smiled. "No, I feel fine. I should clean this up. Thank God I don't have a class this period."

Myrtle barely managed to return the smile, thankful herself that Mr. Connor seemed to buy her explanation and that he did not turn out to be actually working for the queen.

xXx

Kendal refused to yield all the way up to her first modeling show. All of he friends felt that she should back out of this show since the queen had taken up being immensely involved. Kendal did not listen to their concerns. At lunch on that day, they all made one last effort to talk her out of it.

"I told you all, I'm not backing out of this!" Kendal insisted as she opened her lunch.

"We just want to keep you safe!" Vanessa argued.

"What makes you so sure something is going to happen at this show?" Kendal demanded.

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling," Vanessa admitted.

"You get bad feelings about things all the time," Kendal pointed out, rolling her eyes. She let out even more of a grunt when she peered in her lunchbox. "Mother!"

"What is it?" Aria asked.

Kendal huffed and pulled out an apple from her lunchbox. "This is all my mom left me for lunch today!"

"Don't eat it!" Vanessa nearly shouted, causing some of the students from other tables to turn their heads. "How do you know your mom packed that for you?"

Again, Kendal circled her eyes. "She didn't pack this apple. I packed it! I packed a sandwich, an apple, and a granola bar, and my nutrition-freak of a mother decided to go and take out everything except the stupid apple!"

No one said anything to this. Whether Kendal agreed or not, saying something negative about her own mom would just make her more upset.

Their table grew quiet for the next several minutes. Especially the guys had nothing to say on Kendal's modeling show.

Vanessa noticed Kendal suddenly appeared hot as her face subtly tinted red. Kendal then stood up and muttered something about going to the restroom. Vanessa waited a couple minutes before saying she had to go too and followed her path there.

When she entered the girl's restroom, she heard a coughing. Moments later, Kendal came out of one of the stalls.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Vanessa.

"I just had to use the bathroom," Vanessa muttered in response. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Kendal said, firmly, as she went to wash her hands.

Vanessa still continued to look concerned and then asked, slowly, "Kendal… um, has your mom been saying anything to you about your weight recently? You know, you don't have to listen to her."

Kendal shook her head. "No, she hasn't said anything. She just doesn't want me to gain weight, obviously. I know I don't need to lose any weight."

"Right." Vanessa nodded. "Just make sure you keep that in mind no matter what she tells you, okay?"

Kendal managed a smile. "Yeah okay, Vanessa. You know you don't need to worry about me, right?"

After she walked out of the bathroom, Vanessa muttered, "I wish I didn't."

xXx

That night, despite their personal feelings, all five went to Kendal's show. Ian even skipped out on his later football practice to go. Vanessa did not bother to hide that this surprised her.

With this technically being part of the school, the majority of the teachers were present. Principal Sherman had a seat right in front of the stage. This made Aria quite uncomfortable. She was already concerned about what Vanessa said about Kendal after lunch earlier today.

At this moment, Aria and Vanessa stood close to one another to walk. Kendal stood by the food table, nibbling on the deserts provided.

"She seems okay now," Aria said with a shrug. "I mean, I understand why you might think it was that earlier, but all she ate was an apple. I don't think even the most extreme people with eating disorders would go that far to get rid of it."

"I guess," Vanessa admitted. "We'll just have to see how she handles the food she's eating now."

At least, it was not Kendal's reaction to the food the girls observed but her mother's.

"Kendal!" Mrs. Lewis bellowed. "What are you doing? This is right before the show! You couldn't have picked a worse time to stuff your face!"

"For God's sake, Mom, I'm hungry!" Kendal shouted back. "You left me almost nothing for lunch today!"

"I'm trying to help you keep your figure, Sweetie," she insisted more calmly. "These kinds of food will just ruin everything you worked for!"

Kendal rolled her eyes. "People need to eat, Mother!" She slammed her plate of apple pie to the table. "I'll be right back!"

"Just hurry, okay," Mrs. Lewis called out. "The show is about to start."

As Mrs. Lewis through the paper plate with the pie in a nearby trashcan, Aria headed after Kendal. She thought she heard a cough from the single bathroom before the door opened.

"Are you okay?" Aria asked.

"I'm fine," Kendal replied, sounding frustrated. Aria noticed she was starting to appear tired, almost as though she were ill.

"Your mom's wrong, you know," Aria told her quietly, "but you seem to know that. Why are you…"

Kendal sighed as she wiped the little beads of sweat from her forehead. "I don't know. I just hope after tonight, this stops."

Aria tilted her head. "What stops? Do you mean the modeling or…"

Kendal shook her head and started to make her way towards back-stage. "Nothing. I just want to get this over with."

Aria nodded and said softly, "Well, good luck. I know you'll be amazing."

Kendal turned her head and beamed. "Thanks Aria."

After Kendal went off to backstage, Aria met up with Vanessa and the others. They all took their seats in the audience together. Soon after, the music began, starting the show. One by one, the girls walked up the narrow stage path towards where Principal Sherman sat and made their poses. Most of the girls seemed to struggle, unsure of just what they were doing. That ended when Kendal took the stage. The expression on her face was not a smile, but a hard serious look. She appeared as though she had been doing this for years. Aria would have been fooled.

As Kendal approached the front of the stage, Aria noticed their posed principal wore a broad wicked smirk spread across her face. The applause grew louder once Kendal stopped and posed. Aria could hear various comments around here about how professional her friend looked up there. Ian even stood up and hollered out, "That's my girlfriend!"

For a moment, Aria almost began to forget the potential dangers as she started to give into the cheer. However, when Kendal began to raise her hand in the air to wave, Aria noticed she appeared to struggle. Kendal started coughing a couple times into her fist. The moment she lifted her head up, her body collapsed to the ground. This was followed by gasps from the crowd.

Aria leapt up and dashed over towards the side of the stage, trying to get as close as possible to Kendal. A couple of workers jumped up on the stage to examine her. Aria could feel panicked tears rising up in her eyes as she watched one of the men gently place his two fingers on Kendal's neck.

He looked up and shook his head. "She's dead."


	13. Chapter 12 In Mourning

_Chapter 12_

_In Mourning_

The beginning of the next week felt rather surreal to Aria. She spent every moment, hoping she was trapped in a dream and would soon wake up. The entire school seemed to be mourning the loss of Kendal Lewis. All the halls contained class photos, cheerleading shots, and just pictures of her with her friends.

Principal Sherman left. Aria had no idea if she had gone back to her own land and honestly did not even care. The queen likely figured that since her victim was already dead, there was no longer any purpose of being here. All this time, Aria had been too focused on this queen's plans she felt she failed to see the actual problem.

It was declared Kendal had passed away because her body went into cardio arrest due to complications from an eating disorder, bulimia. Aria wished all this time she had been more focused on this. It burdened her that she spent all this time debating with Kendal over how to protect herself against Queen Sahrissa when this queen was not even the reason she died.

During lunch, Aria did not join her friends, but instead, wondered aimlessly down the hall. She eventually leaned against her own locker before sinking to the ground.

"Aria?"

Aria barely managed to turn her head as she spotted Vanessa walking towards her. Her friend then slowly sat down beside her. For nearly a minute, neither of the girls spoke.

"This still doesn't even feel real," Vanessa mumbled, staring straight ahead.

"I know," Aria agreed, softly, and then clenched her fist, feeling her tears start to burn. "I should have done something. Maybe if I had talked to her or something then…"

"You can't blame yourself, Aria," Vanessa interjected, weakly. "I don't think anything you might have said would have done any… well, I don't know. I sometimes think the same thing. Maybe if I just… I don't know."

"We're her friends," Aria said, firmly. "How could we not see…"

"I think all the signs were there," Vanessa said, softly hitting her head on the locker. "We just didn't want to believe… I mean, she threw up after eating an apple that day… an apple!"

Aria crunched her eyebrows for a moment and then gasped in the realization. "She was eating apple pie that very night!"

Vanessa tilted her head towards her friend, shooting her a puzzled look. "What are you saying?"

Aria sat up straighter and turned to face her head on. "Think about it Vanessa! Every time Kendal got sick was after she ate something apple!"

Vanessa frowned and reminded her, "But she didn't always have apples with her lunch."

"No, but sometimes she had apple juice. In fact, the times she got sick, she was definitely drinking apple juice. I remember!" Aria declared. "This makes sense! We both know Kendal is the most confident person in this school. There is no way she would feel this insecure about her body to do this to herself. She did it to her! The Evil Queen cursed her!"

"But how would it work?" Vanessa wondered. "If she poisoned all the apples, wouldn't everyone who ate them be affected?"

"I don't know," Aria admitted, still looking excited, "We can get Myrtle to figure out the details of how the queen did it. The point is, since this is a curse from the evil queen, then true love's kiss should be able to break it!"

Vanessa just gaped at her as though Aria suddenly sprouted a third eye on her forehead. "So you're saying if Ian kisses her, she'll come back?"

"Yes!" Aria practically bellowed. "That's how things work there. True love's kiss always breaks an evil curse!"

Without wasting another moment, Aria dashed over to Myrtle's room with Vanessa following. Fortunately, their English teacher decided to have lunch alone in her classroom while grading papers.

"Myrtle!" Aria burst in through the door, panting as she rushed over to the teacher's desk. "It was her! It was the queen! She killed Kendal!"

Alarmed, Myrtle looked up from her desk towards Aria. Vanessa closed the door, and walked over beside Aria.

"Aria," Myrtle began slowly in a hushed voice. "You do understand how Kendal died, right?"

"Yes, we've been lectured about eating disorders since we were in elementary school," Aria ranted impatiently, placing both hands on Myrtle's desk, "but that's not what happened to Kendal! There's no way she would do that to herself!"

Myrtle sighed. "Aria, I really think you should talk to the councilor about this."

"I'm not in denial!" Aria protested. "The queen really did do this! There's no other explanation!"

"We noticed every time Kendal got sick was when she ate something with apple," Vanessa explained more calmly. "Is there a way the queen could have cursed all the apples Kendal ate?"

"She couldn't have cursed the apples," Myrtle said, quietly. "If she did, then every person that ate what Kendal ate would have been affected… but, Sahrissa could have curse Kendal herself. If that were the case, the curse would have made Kendal's system react to every apple she ate as though it was poisoned. Her body must have tried to fight it off but it eventually just gave out."

"Okay then," Aria said as she began pacing back and forth in front of Myrtle's desk. "If that's true, then true love's kiss should wake her back up. I mean, I was cursed and Derek's kiss brought me back, so Ian should be able to do the same for Kendal! We have to at least try!"

"That's a good idea, but how are we going to get to her?" Vanessa wondered.

Aria stopped pacing and looked at Myrtle. "You can use your magic to get us there."

"I suppose I can," Myrtle agreed, "but I am not taking all five of you there."

"Just take Ian then," Vanessa suggested and then glanced over to her side, "And Aria, since it was her idea."

"Alright," Myrtle said, leaning forward towards her desk, and eying Aria. "I want you and Ian to meet me in this classroom right after school and be ready to go."

xXx

Aria had informed Ian of the plan during the last five minutes of lunch. Now, they both met up after their last class and made their way to Myrtle's room, ready to go.

For the ride, both Aria and Ian sat silently in the back seat. Aria glanced over to Ian, who merely continued to blankly gaze out the window. She truly hoped she was right about the queen's curse. It had to work.

When they arrived at the funeral home, the two followed Myrtle to the back entrance. The fairy used her wand to get the door open and disable any alarms. The three entered and saw Mrs. Lewis standing next to a large rounded man talking to a man in a suit wearing a nametag. Aria recognized the big man to be Kendal's father. She had not seen him in years.

They then went around the corner down the hall where the individual rooms for each body was located. Aria noticed the door that said 'Kendal Elise Lewis.'

Myrtle opened the door a crack and peered in. She then looked to Ian and said, "There's no one there now, but you have to be quick, okay?"

Ian nodded. Before he went in Aria went and hugged him.

"Thank you," she said softly, still feeling tears in her eyes.

Ian sighed as he held her. "I should be thanking you. It was after all, your idea."

"Maybe we should hold all gratitude until this actually works," Myrtle muttered, opening the door a bit wider.

Ian slowly walked into the dark room towards the casket. Myrtle lingered out in the hall to keep watch. Aria remained by the door, her eyes, solely focused on the Ian's backside. Her heart's pounding grew almost unbearable heavy as he opened the casket. He waited a moment before bending over to give Kendal's still body a soft kiss.

The minutes seemed to pass by slowly, but they still passed. After four minutes, there was still no breath in Kendal.

Aria took a step towards the casket. "Ian?"

Ian turned and gazed, solemnly in her direction before mumbling, "Do you remember how long it took before you woke up?"

In despair, Aria looked onto Kendal's lifeless form. "He said it just took a few seconds. Just try again, okay?"

"Aria, I don't think…"

"Just do it again!" Aria insisted, more frantically.

Ian nodded, his eyes wet of tears, and turned back towards the casket. He gently stroked her forehead before muttering, "Come on, Babe, I really need you to come to me, please."

He gave her another kiss. Aria felt her heart leap when she thought she saw Kendal's eyes blink. However, when Aria blinked her own eyes, she found that there was no change in Kendal's form.

"Aria," Myrtle whispered out to her. "We should go now."

With his shoulders hunched, Ian trudged over towards Myrtle. Aria, on the other hand, refused to move.

"No, just give her a couple more minutes," Aria pleaded.

"Aria, we have to go," Myrtle insisted with a steady tone.

"Wait!" Aria could feel the tears starting to stream down her cheeks. "She just needs more time. It will work. It has to!"

"I'm just going to wait outside by the car," Ian muttered, before starting down the hall towards the back door.

Myrtle took in a deep breath, before reaching out her hand to Aria. "Come on, Aria. We have to go. We tried everything we could for her."

Aria shook her head, taking another step back. She could feel her tears growing hotter and hotter by the second.

Aria found her self almost to the point of shouting, as her tear-flow began to get heavier. "NO! She has to wake up! The queen… she did this! There has to be a way to undo it! I woke up, didn't I? Why can't she?"

"Aria, its not the same," Myrtle tried to explain.

Aria frantically whirled back around towards the casket. "Maybe its just because she's here. What if we took her body to Galatia then maybe…"

Myrtle just shook her head, looking down at the princess, sadly. "I'm sorry, Aria."

"No," she muttered, begging to sob with more intensity. "She can't really be gone. She just can't!"

Myrtle put her arm around Aria's shoulder and pulled her in. "I'm sorry, Aria. I wish there was a way to undo this but I'm afraid there isn't. You're just going to have to let her go."


	14. Chapter 13 The Funeral Home

_Chapter 13_

_The Funeral Home_

After school the next day, Aria's parents drove her to the Funeral Home. Aria did not say a word the entire time. She had never in her life felt so much rage. The worst thought was that, at this moment, the queen was likely back in her kingdom celebrating her victory. No one there even knew what she had done.

Aria followed her parents into Kendal's reserved room. This was the night before the official ceremony, the night where all the friends of the person who passed away would gather together to mourn. Aria did not feel in the mood to talk to anyone so she went over to one of the chairs against the wall and sat. Only five minutes passed by before Vanessa came to join her.

"I still can't believe it didn't work," Vanessa uttered in a tone barely surpassing a whisper. "I mean, the queen did do this, right?"

Aria nodded, gazing towards the casket darkly. "She did it. I know it."

"Do you think if Myrtle tells the other fairies what happened, they'll get her?" Vanessa asked.

Aria wiped her eyes and shook her head. "They're not going to get her."

Vanessa turned her head to look at her. "Why do you say that?"

Aria took in a breath before answering, "Because I am."

Vanessa looked at her, bewildered. "What?"

"The next time I'm in Galatia, I'm going to tell my parents I want to be queen," Aria explained. "Everyone there has to listen to me because I'm royalty so I'm going to tell them the truth about Queen Sahrissa and then use the army to take her down."

"Aria, you're kind of starting to scare me," Vanessa muttered, looking towards Kendal's body. "But I guess I agree with what you're doing. Maybe I can come visit you and help on weekends."

"That's fine," Aria said, her eyes lifting up to the ceiling. "Just promise you won't mention any of this to Derek. He'll probably think it's too dangerous and try to stop me."

Vanessa nodded.

Aria then glanced over to her boyfriend, who was currently right beside his best friend. She thought about how Ian and Kendal had been together for over two years. Aria wondered how he would be able to move on after that. The thought of Aria herself moving on felt almost unreachable to her.

All of the sudden, Aria felt her best friend's cold fingers grasp her arm, letting out a gasp the next moment.

"Aria!" Vanessa breathed deeply. "She flinched!"

Aria sat up straighter in her chair and looked towards the casket. "What?"

"Her finger!" Vanessa stood up. "I saw it flinch!"

Aria, too, arose but let out a deep sigh. "Vanessa, you probably just imagined it."

"No!" Vanessa started towards the open coffin. "I know what I saw!"

Aria followed Vanessa to Kendal's body, which still appeared as though she were sleeping.

"I saw it," Vanessa repeated in a weaker tone. "I know I saw her move."

Aria didn't say anything but placed her hand on Vanessa's shoulder and pulled her in for a hug. She knew she had already had her breakdown. Now, Aria felt she had to be strong for the people she loved. The only thing keeping her together now was the thought of giving this evil queen what she deserved.

Walter then came over towards them. "Vanessa?"

Vanessa turned to him. "I just thought I saw… never mind. It doesn't matter. She's gone."

Vanessa then went into her boyfriend's arms, sobbing harder now. Aria looked at Walter and saw his eyes suddenly widen.

"Aria?" he breathed nodding towards the coffin.

Aria turned her head back to Kendal. At first she did not understand what Walter was getting at until she noticed something unusual. Kendal's hands were originally folded over her stomach. Now, however, her right arm appeared to have fallen by her side.

Aria leaned over the casket and whispered, "Kendal?"

At that moment, Kendal's chest rose up as she drew in a deep dust-filled breath. Her eyes flew open and she then began coughing furiously.

The whole room, suddenly grew silent, as all eyes shifted to Kendal. Aria had to look around to be certain she was seeing the same thing everyone else was. The room was filled with gasps and whispers.

"Baby!" Mrs. Lewis rushed over to her daughter, Ian right behind her. "How… what… how are you feeling?"

Still coughing, Kendal tried to sit up. "I'm okay, I guess. What happened?"

Kendal then took a moment to observe her surroundings. Her expression grew more shocked from when her eyes scanned all the photo collages of her put up to the very casket she had been placed in. "What the…"

xXx

Kendal was immediately to the nearest hospital. Now, she rested on a white-sheeted bed, with a breathing mask on. The doctor soon took it off to examine her breathing and then her heartbeat.

"Well, you seem perfectly healthy now, Miss Lewis," the doctor said, though even he appeared startled by her mere presence. "I must say, you are one lucky girl."

Kendal leaned back in her bed, which had been perched up. She saw the doctor standing by the door, talking to her parents.

"What happened to your daughter is very rare but not impossible. Her body was not functioning but there still might have been a part in her brain that was still functioning," the doctor explained. "We're going to keep her here to be sure nothing is wrong, but I just examined her now and she seems quite healthy, considering…"

After the doctor, left Kendal could still here her parents talking.

"I can't leave her here with you, Regina," her dad was saying, "not after what just happened. I'm taking my daughter to come live with me."

"You can't take my daughter away from me, George!" Regina shouted back. "I won't let you! I promise I won't put any more pressure on her!"

"It's too late!" George roared. "We almost lost her! I can't risk that happening. She'll be happier with me any…"

"Daddy!" Kendal called out, coughing afterwards.

George's expression softened as he walked in towards her bed. He stood beside her and stroked her forehead. "Hey baby girl. You're just going to spend a couple more nights here at the most. After that, you're going to come live with me instead."

Kendal sighed and replied, "I'm not going to live with you, Daddy."

Mr. Lewis appeared slightly taken aback by her bold response, but still remained persistent. "I know a change at this time might seem a bit overwhelming but I promise, it's for the best. You'll be happier."

"I said no, Daddy," Kendal repeated, sounding more impatient.

Her dad sighed, and said, "Sweetheart, I know you don't want to leave your friends, but I don't think staying here is what's best for you now. After what happened, I can't risk losing you."

Kendal looked her father in the eye and insisted, "Daddy, I promise nothing is going to happen to me now. I won't let it. My life is here and I am not leaving."

George reluctantly tilted his head and gave in. "Fine, I guess I can't take you away from your life here. Just promise me you'll quit that modeling thing."

"I was going to anyway," Kendal said.

He nodded, approvingly. "Good. Also, I'm going to come visit you every weekend from now on. I should've been here more anyway."

Kendal merely nodded.

"So are you still dating that same guy?" George asked.

"Yes, Daddy," Kendal said more calmly. "Ian. You met him, remember? You said you liked him."

"Right, right," he muttered.

"If he's here, it would be nice to see him," Kendal said, with a pleading smile.

He smiled and patted her shoulder. "I think all your friends are here now. I'll go get him."

Kendal only had to wait a couple minutes before Ian appeared at the door. He wasted no time in rushing over to pull her into a warm hug.

When Ian looked at her, he still appeared white of shock. "I still can't believe… I mean, you're really…"

"Back from the dead?" Kendal offered with a shrug.

She recalled the strange feeling of waking up in a coffin, surrounded by flowers and photos of her. Also, almost every person she knew had been present to send her off, to say goodbye.

"Why did everyone think I was dead?" Kendal asked slowly. To her, it just felt as though she had just awoken from a deep slumber.

"Well, you… you kind of were," Ian replied, still holding both of her hands. "When you fell on the stage, they came up and tested your pulse. They confirmed you were gone."

Kendal squeezed his hands tighter and looked down. "So I really was… dead?"

"You weren't even breathing," Ian answered. "That was all people could think."

Kendal tilted her head and asked, "But if I was dead, then how did I come back? I don't believe what the doctor was saying. He looked just as shocked as my parents."

"Well, it was actually Aria's idea, but… she and Vanessa thought it was possible the queen was really responsible for what happened to you. Aria thought that since it was her curse that… well, put you to sleep, if I kissed you then you would wake up again."

Kendal felt overwhelmed by all this information. She put one hand on her head and asked, "So, is that why I came back?"

Ian nodded, but he still appeared uncertain. "I guess so. The weird thing is I kissed you last night but nothing happened then. I don't know if it just took longer for some reason or if something else brought you back."

"What about the queen?" Kendal asked. "Is she still at our school?"

Ian shook his head. "No, she just the day after you… well…"

"Right," Kendal muttered, looking down. "So she probably thinks I'm dead, doesn't she?"

Ian nodded looking suddenly hopeful. "That's right, she does! And I don't think she'll ever have any reason to come back here so as long as she continues to believe you're still dead, you should be safe from her!"

As he beamed and hugged her again, Kendal forced a smile and returned the hug. However, she did not particularly feel all that gleeful. After all, the woman who made an attempt on her life was likely out there celebrating her victory. That just did not sit right with Kendal.

"Um… Ian?" Kendal asked quietly, while his still hugged her. "Is anyone else here to see me?"

"Oh, right." Ian pulled away and grinned. "I guess I should give Aria and Vanessa a turn, right?" He gave her one last kiss, before standing up. "I'll come visit you again tomorrow after school, okay?"

Kendal smiled and nodded. "That would be great."

After he left, it only took another minute this time before Aria and Vanessa showed up at her door. Their conversation began pretty similar to hers with Ian, how they could not believe she was alive, followed by what the queen really did.

"We were going to get her," Vanessa said, sitting on the side of the bed.

"What?" Kendal asked, looking between her and Aria, who stood beside the bed.

"We were going to go after the queen… for what she did," Vanessa elaborated looking to Aria.

Kendal's eyes widened. "Wait… how…"

"I was going to claim the throne," Aria explained, softly, with her arms folded. "That way I would have the whole kingdom to back me up against her."

Kendal raised her eyebrow. "You do realize if you did that, you would have been throwing your entire life away here?"

Aria shrugged. "I guess that didn't really matter to me."

Kendal just sighed and pointed out, "Well, I'm glad I'm here now to tell you not to do that."

Both Aria and Vanessa chuckled at that.

For a few moments, all three girls were silent. Kendal then leaned back on her bed and muttered, "So everyone thought I had an eating disorder?"

"They still probably think that," Aria explained, sympathetically. "There's really no other realistic explanation for people here to accept."

"Wonderful," Kendal muttered, sarcastically. "People are probably going to be gossiping about that for the rest of the year."

Vanessa shook her head. "Nah, I'm sure someone will cheat on someone else, or someone will get wasted at a party and do something stupid, or whatever. I mean, its high school. There's something new to gossip about every week."

"Yeah, I suppose that's true," Kendal mumbled.

Kendal then said that she needed some rest, so Aria and Vanessa gave her one last hug before leaving. Still in a daze, Kendal leaned back in her bed. Everything felt so strange to her. All her family and friends were treating her as though she had actually been dead, but to Kendal, it did not really feel as though she were gone. She felt normal now. However, at the same it, she felt as though there were something she should be doing. It almost seemed as though her life was missing a purpose. Then, a realization hit her. The evil queen, the woman who made an attempt on her life was still out there.


	15. Chapter 14 The Counselor

_Chapter 14_

_The Counselor_

Kendal was excused from school for the remaining weeks until winter break, which turned out to be almost a month. She was told all the fall exams were canceled. It seemed strange to her that one student died and then the school exams get canceled, but no one at the school complained. She heard about one week where each day the students attended a two-hour assembly. Every day they discussed a different eating disorder or just peer pressure in general. Kendal was glad she missed all that.

On the first day of the Spring semester, Kendal got dressed and walked down stairs, planning to get a quick bowl of Special K cereal. However, by the time she got half-way down, she could already smell a mixture of bacon and pancake batter in the air. When she walked into the kitchen, Kendal found a feast prepared for breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and stacks of pancakes.

"Mom?" Kendal questioned, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on? Is Dad coming over today?"

Regina shook her head, smiling brightly. "No, this is all for you. I just thought I'd send you off to your first day back to school with a good breakfast."

"This looks like it can feed an army," Kendal commented.

Her mother ignored her remark and insisted, "Look, I made chocolate chip pancakes. Those were your favorite, remember?"

"I guess," Kendal uttered, weakly, "but you haven't made those for me since I was six."

Regina pushed the chair back, and motioned her hand towards it. "Have a seat, Sweetheart."

Kendal grabbed a plate with one of each food, and then sat down. Her mom went to the refrigerator and pulled out two juice containers.

"Apple juice or Orange juice?" she asked her daughter, holding up both containers."

Kendal glanced up and replied quickly, "Orange juice."

After what happened just month ago, she didn't think she could ever tolerate anything apple ever again.

xXx

Being back at school felt quite bizarre to Kendal. Almost all her classmates treated her like an alien. They were either unnaturally polite to her or simply kept their distance. She was thankful she had her friends, who seemed to be the only people that acted normal around her.

Homeroom today took place in Myrtle's classroom, but Mr. Connor was present too. Kendal briefly wondered if they planed to do Homeroom together today or if he simply wanted an excuse to be around Myrtle. She planned to bring this topic up when Aria and Vanessa arrived.

"Hey, Miss Lewis," Mr. Connor greeted her with a broad smile. "Its good to have you back. You look well."

Kendal smiled back. It was blatantly obvious to her he was making quite the effort not to make this conversation sound too awkward.

"Hello, Mr. Connor," she replied politely.

By the way he fumbled his fingers together, she could tell this would only get more awkward.

"Uh…" Mr. Connor began uncertainly. "Principal Whiteman is back, and he was… uh, informed on everything that happened while he was away."

"Okay," Kendal said, unsure of where he was going with this.

"The first thing he did was break off the contract with the Modeling school that was involved here," he explained. "He feels it's not a good idea to have that kind of thing for girls your age. It can cause too many problems."

Kendal merely nodded, hoping that was it. "That's okay. I was going to quit anyway. My dad never really approved in the first place."

"Good, good," Mr. Connor mumbled, still fidgeting his fingers. "Principal Whiteman also feels that starting today, once a week, you should see the counselor."

Kendal gaped at him, bewildered. "What? Why?"

Her teacher sighed. "Well, the principal feels it will help you deal with what you're going through. After all, you've been through a lot these past couple months. Maybe talking about it will help."

Kendal huffed. She really did not need to talk this through with anyone. After all, the counselor did not even know what really happened to her so it seemed rather pointless. She wanted to roll her eyes and tell him no, but she had the feeling her attitude will likely make her teacher think she needed counseling even more. All she did was nod and take her usual seat. Just a minute later, Aria and Vanessa joined her, followed by Derek and Ian, and last Walter.

"So did I miss anything important in school I need to know for this semester?" Kendal asked them. 

Vanessa shrugged. "I don't remember anything important."

Kendal rolled her eyes but grinned. "You never even pay attention in class."

"Maybe later I can go over some of the stuff you might need to know in Algebra and Chemistry for this semester," Walter offered.

"That sounds good," Kendal replied grateful, but then raised her brow. "Wait, you're not in any of the same classes as us."

Walter shrugged. "Yeah, but I did enough of the homework with Vanessa, so I think I got the basic gist of what's going on."

Once the bell rang, Myrtle read off the morning announcements. They basically just summed up Principal Whiteman's return, the upcoming Sadie Hawkins's dance and various sports. They also learned the school just got a new counselor, who supposedly trained for his degree in another country. The last message explained that Juniors and Seniors will have separate Proms this Spring, which struck Kendal as odd. The voting for nominations for Prom King and Queen were set to begin next month.

Kendal used to dream of being Sheerwood's Prom Queen. If the idea of being nominated during her Junior year fell to her ears earlier, she would have been excited. Now however, she really didn't care. Something about her life felt empty and she seriously doubted being named Prom Queen would change that.

After the class ended, Kendal walked up to Myrtle's desk.

Myrtle looked up at her and asked, "What can I do for you Miss Lewis?"

Kendal sighed and got straight to the point. "Is it really necessary for me to see the school counselor?"

Myrtle just gave her a sympathetic look and said. "I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it. Principal Whiteman really feels strongly on this."

"But this is so stupid," Kendal protested. "He's just going to want to discuss the eating disorder I didn't really have. I don't need to see a counselor!"

Myrtle sighed. "Look Kendal, the best advice I can offer is just act like you're doing much better, convince him you're on a normal diet, and hopefully he'll decide its not necessary for you to keep seeing him."

Kendal just let out a hefty breath and nodded, figuring there was no point in perusing this argument any further. Although she continued to dread it, she went to the school office after classes ended and waited for her appointment with the counselor.

She sat on the couch in the main office and looked to the counselor office. There was no name encrusted near the door. Kendal assumed it was because this counselor just started today. She just hoped he was smart enough to sense when a student did not require any counseling and would not make her come again after today.

At the sound of the door opening, Kendal glanced up to see a petite bald-headed man emerge from the counselor's office.

This man motioned his hand for her to come in. Reluctantly, Kendal got up and followed.

The counselor's room was painted a light blue. On the desk was a small vase of white lilies. The wall beside her contained a portrait of a dream catcher. Kendal supposed the essence of relaxation and sleep in this room was to help keep those in need of counseling calm and at peace. She still, however, felt tense.

"Look Sir," Kendal began as she sat down, "I don't mean to be rude but I really don't need this. I know it may appear as though I had an eating disorder but that wasn't…"

"I know you didn't have an eating disorder, Miss Lewis," the counselor interjected, calmly.

Kendal looked at him, puzzled.

He then elaborated, "Believe it or not, I am fully aware of your situation."

Kendal shifted in her chair, apprehensively. "What do you mean?"

"It's quite simple, isn't it," he said, looking at her intently. "You were cursed."

Not expecting this, Kendal drew in a sharp breath.

He offered a sly smile. "That is the case, is it not?"

"How do you know about that?" Kendal demanded. "Who are you?"

"I wouldn't expect you to remember me, Miss Lewis," he spoke with the same consistent serenity. "After all, last time we met you were unconscious."

"Who are you?" Kendal repeated more darkly.

"My name is Becket," he answered. "I am a priest in the land, Evalius."


	16. Chapter 15 Queen of Evalius

_Chapter 15_

_Queen of Evalius_

Kendal immediately stood up and went for the door. Becket made no physical effort to stop her.

"Before you leave, Miss Lewis," he said, in a soft tone, "you might be interested in what I have to say. After all, I can help you."

Kendal whirled around. "Why should I trust you? Aria told me about you. She said you were working for Lord Argarion!"

"I was," he admitted. "Lord Argarion threatened me with my life if I did not serve him. Now that he himself is no longer alive, that threat is meaningless."

"And who are you working for now?" Kendal demanded.

Becket sighed. "No one at the moment. You see, Argarion left no heir so Evalius at this time has no ruler."

Kendal huffed impatiently as he spoke. She had already known about Evalius's current ruler situation.

Becket raised his brow at her impatience. "Obviously, you already know this, but this part should interest you. You understand why the queen's magic mirror deemed you fairest in the land even though you were not born in any lands of that world."

"It's because I was chosen as Lord Argarion's bride," Kendal answered. "That gave me a connection to the lands."

"Right," Becket agreed with a nod. "Are you aware that this also gives you the right to claim the throne in Evalius?"

Kendal drew in a breath, honestly never giving this much thought.

"Clearly not," Becket muttered, with his hands folded.

Kendal then snorted. "Why would I want to be queen of an evil kingdom?"

Again, Becket raised his eyebrow. "The land itself is cursed by evil, but that does not make every person within evil. Most are ordinary people, trying to get by with the little the land provides for them."

Kendal suddenly felt a bit guilty by her harsh, judgmental statement. "That sounds awful." She then looked straight in his eyes. "I still don't understand what good me being queen will do for these people or me."

"I honestly do not know what will happen, as Evalius has never been in this kind of situation before," he admitted. "However, perhaps you can start off by serving as a symbol of change, something to give the people hope. As for you, if you desire to get what you want, you will need back up. A kingdom will do just fine."

Kendal looked at him blankly. "What do you mean 'get what I want?'"

He actually appeared surprised by her question. "Well, I assume you would want revenge on the queen. After all, she did curse you and because of it, you were actually dead. I understand it made not feel this way, but had it not been for your boyfriend's kiss, you would have been gone forever, and all because of her."

Kendal remained quiet, unsure of how to respond to this. The thought of the queen going about her life normally, thinking she won did bother her. Kendal could not deny that. She also had to admit she would think of a way to get back at her. However, Kendal never in a million years imagined there would actually be a way to go after Queen Sahrissa. The idea seemed so surreal.

"Well," Becket said, unfolding his hands. "I see you might need some time to think this over. Perhaps next time we meet…"

"I'll do it," Kendal interjected before he could finish his suggestion. "I'll claim the throne to Evalius."

xXx

After her Volleyball practice, Vanessa strolled down the hallway, hitting the ball up and down. The next thing about after hours was that most of the teachers had gone home so she had more freedom in the hallways.

At a harder bump, Vanessa accidently hit the ball up too high. It bounced off to the side, nearly hitting a basketball trophy.

"Oops," Vanessa muttered, picking the ball up. She groaned as she saw Mrs. Stevens, her biology teacher from last year, walk down the hall.

"Miss Cooper, this is a hallway not a gym," the teacher said, sternly. "Please put up the ball."

Vanessa hung her head low and replied, "Yes, Mrs. Stevens."

The moment the Biology teacher turned the corner, Vanessa resumed her hallway Volleyball practice. This time, when she hit the ball off course, it rolled into Professor Stratford's classroom.

"Great," Vanessa muttered as she trotted to that room. She found him by his desk, building some sort of model on it.

"Sorry Mr.… I mean Professor," she said, quickly grabbing her ball.

His eyes widened as he spotted her. Hunched over, he walked over to her.

"This is perfect!" Professor Stratford declared, placing his hand on the ball. "It will work wonderfully as mountain for my ancient Greece scene. May I borrow it, Miss Cooper?"

"Uh… sure, I guess." Vanessa handed him the ball, unsure of how it would serve as a mountain. Her history teacher really did seem to be balancing on his last marble. She wondered how much longer he would last here.

Since Vanessa knew Aria had already gone home with Derek so she went to look for Walter. He told her he would be working on an AP Chemistry project with Mr. Connor after school today. She went to see if he was done by now.

When she walked by the room, she saw the door open. Vanessa then found Walter and three other students, one Asian boy, one African American boy, and a Caucasian girl. They were all testing chemicals while Mr. Connor sat at his desk grading papers.

"Why hello there, Miss Cooper," the teacher greeted with a broad smile. "What brings you to my classroom? Were you interested in learning about our science project, here?"

Vanessa shook her head. "Yeah, not really. I just need to ask Walter something?"

Walter took off his goggles and gloves and walked over to her. "Hey, so what did you want to ask me?"

"How much longer are you going to be here?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

Walter scratched his head. "Well, there's still a bit to do so…"

"Right," Vanessa said, already estimating a time length in her head. "Well, I'm just going to go ahead and walk home. I'll see you tomorrow."

As she kissed him on the cheek and started to walk off, he called out, "Wait. It's going to get dark soon. I don't think I like the idea of you walking alone."

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "For God's sake, Walter, what could possibly happen?"

He raised his eyebrow. "Do we really need to go over that? Besides Kendal's still here, I think. Why don't you ask her to give you a ride?"

"Why's Kendal still at school?" Vanessa wondered. "How long does counseling go on for?"

"Well, I met her out in the hall during my break," Walter explained. "She said she really liked the counselor and since he didn't have any other appointments today, she could go back if she wanted."

Vanessa frowned. "But Kendal doesn't really need counseling. We know that."

Walter shrugged. "Maybe she does have something going on in her life she needs to talk about."

"That's what Aria and I are there for," Vanessa pointed out. "She doesn't need to talk to a stranger. This doesn't sound like her at all."

"Well, I guess you can ask her about it," Walter suggested.

Vanessa decided that was just what she will school. After she bade her boyfriend farewell, she made her way to the school's main office. Mrs. Hall informed her that Kendal was still in there talking to the counselor. While she waited, Vanessa sat down on one of the chairs in the main office.

A few minutes later, the door to the counselor's room opened and Kendal stepped out. Vanessa stood up and smiled to her friend at first, but that smile soon fell once she caught a glimpse of the man standing behind Kendal. It took her a moment to recall just who he was, but she sure did.

"Hey," Kendal greeted as she passed her. "What are you doing here?"

Vanessa didn't bother to answer as she followed Kendal out of the main office.

"Kendal," Vanessa spoke urgently. "That man you were talking to, you thought was the counselor, he's really…"

"He's a priest in Evalius," Kendal replied calmly. "He told me."

Vanessa gawked at her, "Okay, well don't you think you should be a little more concerned about him?"

Kendal shook her head. "No, he was only a threat last time because he was working for Argarion. Now that his king is dead, Becket has no reason to do his bidding."

"So then why did he come here?" Vanessa asked her.

Kendal took in a breath, appearing unsure of what to say.

"Kendal?"

Kendal sighed, "Look, the school really isn't the best place to talk about this. Maybe you can come over for a little bit? We can talk at my place."

Vanessa nodded, growing a feeling she would not like whatever Kendal was planning to tell her.

Kendal then drove Vanessa back to her house. The moment the girls walked to the door, a warm barbeque scent filled the air.

"Is your mom cooking?" Vanessa asked. "She never did that."

Kendal nodded, as she unlocked the front door. "She's done nothing but cook for like the past month. I swear, its like she's determined to get me fat."

Vanessa shrugged. "Well, I guess that's better than what she was doing before."

Once they went in and passed the kitchen, Mrs. Lewis greeted them, warmly. "Why hello girls! How was your day?"

"It was alright," Kendal muttered, wanting to get to the point. "Mom, Vanessa and I need to work on a school project so we'll be upstairs."

"Okay, but don't forget about dinner," she called back as the girls walked upstairs.

Kendal closed the door to her room once they were both in.

Before they even sat down, Vanessa went ahead and asked, "So, what did he want to talk to you about?"

"Well… he offered to make me the queen there," Kendal answered, softly, looking down.

Vanessa's eyes widened. "What? Are you serious?"

She merely nodded.

"Why did he come all this way to make you queen?" Vanessa pressed on.

Kendal sat down on her chair and glanced into the mirror. "He said Evalius needs a ruler. Since Argarion doesn't have an heir and I'm the most recent surviving bride, I'm it."

After several moments of silence drifted by, Vanessa demanded, "Well, you're not really going do that, are you?"

Kendal glanced back in her mirror, not rushing to answer.

"Kendal?" Vanessa tried again. "It's an evil land, remember? You can't be queen there!" She paused and studied her friend's expression. "There's more to this, isn't there? There's a reason you're considering it."

Kendal sighed and admitted, "He said as queen, he could help me get revenge on Queen Sahrissa."

Vanessa tilted her head and asked, "So you're going to do it? You're actually going to become queen there?"

Kendal huffed and stood up to pace her room. "I don't know. One thing I know for sure is I don't want to be there the rest of my life. It's just now… I don't know." She brushed her fingers through the side of her hair. "Something about being here knowing she's still out there thinking she's won really bothers me. I mean, she nearly killed me… or actually did kill me, however you look at it. I just can't stay here and let that go. You know what I mean?"

Vanessa did not say anything for a couple passing moments, but then muttered, "Alright, then let's get her."

Kendal stared at her, clearly not expecting her response. "What?"

"You're right," Vanessa went on. "She shouldn't be able to get away with this. We'll get her, together."


	17. Chapter 16 A Visit to Evalius

_Chapter 16_

_A Visit to Evalius_

A week passed by since Kendal's first visit with Counselor Becket. She has met with him again one other time since then. It was arranged that Kendal and Vanessa would visit Evalius this upcoming weekend. The two girls met at Kendal's house after school to make their plans for just what they would do in this evil land.

"So do you think Argarion's army will be strong enough against the evil queen's kingdom?" Vanessa asked.

"Well," Kendal started, "Becket told me there might be a way he can resurrect just Argarion's magic and give them to me."

Vanessa's eyes widened. "What? Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, isn't his magic evil?"

"We don't know that for sure," Kendal replied. "We know Argarion was an evil man, but he was also ruler of an evil land. He possibly could have just been born evil with the way things work in that world. It's probably not because of his magic."

"That still sounds risky," Vanessa commented.

"I know," Kendal admitted, heavily, "but I have to be sure I have all the people's support in Evalius. With his magic, I'll appear stronger to them and they'll be more likely to back me up."

"If you say so," Vanessa muttered as Kendal's phone started to ring.

Kendal answered it. "Hey Ian… Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot to call you… I'm actually kind of busy with schoolwork tonight. I had to stay at school later for counseling, remember… Sorry, I'm swamped this weekend too. Mom said she wanted to take me shopping all day Saturday and Sunday I have to finish that Chemistry project we have."

Vanessa kept quiet as she listened. She knew very well the real reason Kendal would be occupied this weekend. She herself still had not even thought of what she would say to Aria or Walter. Vanessa hated lying to both of them.

"I know, I'm sorry," Kendal went on, her phone pressed against her ear. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll have some time to spend together next week… Okay, well bye, Honey."

After she hung up, Vanessa commented, "You know, you probably shouldn't blow off the guy who's kiss is the reason you're alive right now."

Kendal sighed. "I know, I feel bad, but I really don't want him getting dragged into this. Same goes for Aria. I don't want any of our friends to put their lives in danger for this. I didn't even want to get you involved."

"Well, you shouldn't have to do this alone," Vanessa answered, firmly.

Kendal merely let out another deep breath and nodded. "Thank you. What did you tell Aria you were doing tonight?"

"I just said I had to stay late for an extra long volleyball practice," Vanessa said, softly. "I guess it's believable since there's a game next week. I turned my phone off after that."

Kendal pointed out, "Well as soon as she tries calling you, she'll probably…"

Just as those words left Kendal's lips, her phone began to ring yet again.

"Hi Aria," Kendal answered.

Vanessa looked down to the ground shamefully.

Kendal glanced at Vanessa and mouthed if she should admit they were together. Vanessa shook her head.

"No, I haven't heard from her," Kendal said on the phone. "I don't know. Her phone probably just died and she lost her charger again. You know how she is… Wasn't Walter staying late at school too for a project? Maybe she decided to wait for him… Well, Walter probably can't answer his phone if he's with a teacher… I'm sure they're fine… Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, Aria. Bye."

After she hung up, Vanessa gave her a look and rolled her eyes. "Really Kendal? Can't you think of an excuse for me that doesn't make me sound completely irresponsible?"

Kendal shrugged. "I had to make it sound realistic. You do lose your phone charger a lot."

"Whatever," Vanessa grumbled before asking, "So when do we leave this weekend?"

xXx

On Saturday morning, Kendal picked up Vanessa and drove her to downtown Norfolk to cross worlds through the fountain. Once they rose up in the lake, they found a black carriage awaiting them. Becket stepped out of that carriage and bowed, with his hand on his stomach.

"My queen," he greeted humbly.

Kendal started to shake her head. "I'm not queen yet."

Ignoring her statement, his eyes moved past her. "You did not mention you were bringing your friend."

"Well, I am," Kendal replied with firmness. "I need someone I trust with me."

Becket smiled. "Well, I must admit you selected a fine trusted ally. After all, I remember this girl was willing to sacrifice herself to take your place when you were chosen. But you must keep in mind, you can also trust all your subjects in Evalius, including myself."

"We'll see," Kendal said, stepping into the carriage. "After all, I haven't actually been conscious in Evalius."

The girls sat inside the carriage while Becket sat out towards the upper end to steer the horse.

"I'm still not sure about this," Vanessa said. "What if it's a trap?"

Kendal looked out the window and asked, "Why would Becket go out of his way to set us up for a trap if he has no one to serve?"

"Maybe he wants revenge on us for causing Argarion's death," Vanessa suggested. "What if the whole town wants revenge?"

"He was an evil man," Kendal reasoned. "Unless every single person that lives there is evil, I seriously doubt they would want to avenge him. Besides, Aria was the one to actually kill Argarion. It Becket wanted revenge, he would have likely tried to push me into bringing her along."

Vanessa fell silent for a moment and then sighed. "Is that really why you wanted to keep Aria out of this? You were afraid there might actually be some people that would want to avenge his death?"

Kendal nodded. "Yes, and she's already got enough on her plate with balancing a life between the two worlds. I don't want to drag her into this as well."

As the carriage approached the city of Evalius Kendal noticed a dramatic change in the atmosphere. Suddenly everything felt so dark and cold. Even the sun appeared dimmer. The grounds were dried up and cracked. Most of the homes were presented like run down shacks. Even what Kendal assumed to be home of noble families as they were taller, had uneven bricks and looked unkempt. Kendal could not imagine a more horrible place to live.

Just as the carriage approached the castle gates, Kendal looked out to where Becket steered and ordered, "Stop. I want to get out."

Vanessa looked at her questioningly but did not say anything.

Kendal stepped out as a man by the well had caught her attention. This man appeared to be in his upper twenties. Kendal noticed his spine poking through the back of his brown shirt. This man continued to lower a bucket up and down. Every time he pulled the bucket up, he would sigh as he tilted it to find it empty. He then re-lowered it to try again. He was on his third attempt by the time Kendal reached him.

"I think the well is dry," Kendal said softly from behind him.

Without looking at her, the man let out a doleful sigh. "I know. I'm just really thirsty. I can't stop hoping…"

"Isn't there a lake nearby you can go to?" Kendal asked him, stepping beside the well.

Still looking down into the empty hole, the man shook his head. "No, there are no lakes anywhere near Evalius, and it rarely rains here so the lands are dry."

"How do people get by here?" she inquired.

"You must not be from around here," he commented.

Kendal shook her head. "No, I don't live anywhere near this land."

"What madness would bring you to this region?" he asked of her.

"A year ago, I was chosen as a bride for your king," she answered, quietly.

Finally, his head tilted up and his eyes gazed into hers. "You were the one that survived! And you've returned! The people here have waited!"

Kendal gawked at him. "What do you mean?"

"We have lost our leader just last year," he explained. "He may not have done anything for us but the people always hoped that would one day change and he would take pity on his people. He told us he was working on a solution and that is why one of our daughters must be sacrificed as his bride, so he can stay alive to save our land. Once he was killed, this land was left with no ruler, no one to lead. People fought for the throne, but no one had a legitimate claim. Then, just a month ago, it was agreed that since you were his last bride from the ceremony, you are the one that should rule. That was the only solution everyone agreed on, but there was no way to find you so we all simply remained here and prayed one day you would come to save us from this wasteland."

Kendal felt a strong overwhelming feeling, as she looked around at all the miserable people. She had no idea what she could possibly do to fix all of this. Argarion had magic and never could, or perhaps he never bothered. It seemed strange to Kendal that none of these people in this evil-driven land seemed evil themselves. They did not even seem to see Argarion as a bad man. Instead they waited and hoped for him to save them but he never did. Kendal wondered if he simply didn't bother with peasants or because he could not do anything for them. She then theorized he might have purposely left the land in ruin to have an excuse for the people to sacrifice their daughters to him.

"What is your name?" Kendal asked the man by the well.

"I am Cain," he answered for brightly, as he stumbled to bow. "How can I serve you, my queen?"

"Wait," Kendal said, grabbing his shoulders to help him rise back up. "I'm not queen yet. I'm just…"

But before she could finish, a woman cried out, "That's her! I saw her painting in the castle. That's our queen! She has returned to us!"

The next thing Kendal knew, there was a whole riot of desperate people swarming towards her. She continuously heard words as hungry, help, and savior surround her. They all seemed to just want to touch her arm to see if she was really present.

"Kendal, what's going on?" Vanessa demanded, pushing her way through the crowd.

Kendal turned to her, slightly panicked. "I don't know. They seem to think I've come here to save them…"

Becket then made his way through and stood up on the well, announcing, "People of Evalius, please listen. You're queen has only just arrived. She is foreign and unfamiliar with these lands. Yet, as the most recent bride of Argarion, she is still your queen. At this moment, I will escort her into the castle and educate her on the ways of this land. Please, be patient. I know we all want a better place to live and we hope our queen will be the one to bring that to you."

Becket then escorted Kendal and Vanessa into the castle. The inside contained two different halls, a golden-walled one, bright and royal, and the other a dark dungeon walled path. They started down the gold hall.

"Be sure to follow exactly where I go," Becket informed the girls.

After the first corner they turned, the walls transformed to flowered vines.

"What the heck?" Kendal muttered, observing her new surroundings.

"Oh yeah, this castle is one giant maze," Vanessa informed her. "Also, every time you turn a corner, the hallway changes. It's very easy to get lost too. We all got separated from each other when we came to get you."

"How the heck did you even manage to find me?" Kendal wondered in a daze.

"I don't know, but it definitely wasn't easy," Vanessa answered.

They crossed several halls, all variations of wealth to poor, outdoor to indoor, and dark to light. Kendal began to feel dizzy from the constant scenery change. The final hall the group approached contained portraits of women. Each painting had a candle lit up on the wall next to him.

"Who are these women?" Kendal asked.

Vanessa frowned and shook her head. "I don't think I saw this part last time I was here."

"These are all the woman who have previously been chosen to be Lord Argarion's bride," Becket informed. "Needless to say, they have all passed on to the next life, except…"

"That's Myrtle," Kendal interrupted, pointing at her slashed portrait.

"Yes," Becket said. "She is the only other chosen bride for Argarion that is still alive this day."

"Well, how come the people never sought her out to rule?" Kendal wondered.

"Because when she escaped, Argarion was still alive," Becket told her. "The people sought no determination to challenge him. After all, to the people in this kingdom, Argarion was an immortal, a god to them. They feared him. But now that he is gone, the people feel they have no one to turn to. It was not until a maid was wondering this hall and noticed your portrait still rested sideways on the ground, not even put up yet. The people here then realized you were still alive and out there somewhere. They had hope."

They entered the main throne room. Just outside it was a room with an alter. Vanessa whispered to Kendal that was where the ritual for her sacrifice was meant to take place. Kendal herself grew an even uneasier than before.

Just above the throne, hung Kendal's painting. She was portrayed in the black gown she was wearing when nearly sacrificed. Her posture and expression in the portrait looked of pure royalty.

"Now do you see?" Becket asked, motioning his right hand towards the painting of Kendal. "You are meant for this throne. You are the only one who can lead these people."

Kendal nervously put her hand to her head, still feeling quite overwhelmed, and admitted, "I don't think I know how to lead here. I know nothing of this kingdom."

"That is why I am here," Becket reminded her. "To advise and guide you to this land." When she still appeared unsure, he added, "Also, if you want to go up against Queen Sahrissa, you will need support here in this world."

"Right," Kendal agreed, feeling a sudden determination rise in her. However she dwelled, "But how can these people fight? Most of them are starving and weak from their thirst. They are not in shape to back me up."

"Well, perhaps you can do something with Argarion's powers to remedy that," Becket suggested.

"What if I don't know how?" Kendal asked. "I never even believed in magic until just last year. What if I can't figure out how to control it?"

"That is where my guidance will come in handy," Becket replied.

Kendal looked around the throne room, trying to wrap her mind around all this. She knew one thing for certain she wanted to go after Queen Sahrissa, but was she really ready to take on the duty of being the queen here in Evalius? She did not feel so certain on that. After all, she still had her family, friends, and boyfriend back at home. She could finally grasp just how Aria felt burdened by this decision. However, at least Aria's parents knew about this world. If Kendal decided to move here for good to be queen, what would she tell her parents?

Unlike Aria, Kendal did not have a couple years to make her final decision. She had to do it now.

Finally, Kendal took in a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. I'll do it. I'll be queen of Evalius."


	18. Chapter 17 The Resurrection

_Chapter 17_

_The Resurrection_

Aria knew Kendal and Vanessa were up to something. First, it started that one school night when she tried to call Vanessa and she supposedly lost her phone charger. When she finally got in touch with Walter, he said he had not even seen her since after school. Aria knew for certain she was not home because she walked across the street later to see what was going on and Mrs. Cooper said she was over at Kendal's studying. That must have meant Kendal was lying to her. After all, even though she claimed not to know where Vanessa was, she still sounded completely calm, even when Aria called her back and said she has not come home yet.

Even though it was clear her two best friends were up to something, Aria did not confront them on it the entire week in school. Instead, she took it upon herself to find out what secret they were hiding.

On Saturday morning, Aria set her alarm so she would wake up earlier to investigate. When she walked by her bedroom window, she noticed Kendal's car parked in front of Vanessa's house.

Curious, Aria quickly got dressed and then went outside. As she walked across the street, she debated on whether to just knock on the door and confront them directly. She stood by Kendal's car, trying to decide what to do. Before she reached a decision, however, Vanessa's front door opened and the two girls walked out. Both jumped, startled by Aria's sudden presence.

"Aria!" Vanessa spoke first. "What… uh, what are you doing up so early?"

"Couldn't sleep," Aria muttered, not bothering to think of an elaborate excuse for her presence. "Where are you two heading off to?"

"Um… we were just heading to the… uh, mall," Vanessa attempted to answer quickly.

Aria raised her eyebrow. "The mall doesn't open until ten."

"Obviously," Kendal muttered under her breath, annoyed.

Vanessa whirled over to her and stammered, "Well, you try to think of a better excuse off the top of your mind!"

"I had a better excuse for us in mind, but then you had to say that," Kendal gritted back. "Now, we may as well tell her the truth."

Aria faked a pleasant smile and added, "Yeah, let's just skip on to that part."

Kendal then went on and explained how the priest of Evalius came disguised as a counselor to inform her that the kingdom needs a ruler. She agreed to rule as long as he assist her in getting revenge on Queen Sahrissa. Today, Becket had prepared a ritual that should resurrect Lord Argarion's powers and give them to Kendal.

Aria's eyes spread wide open by the end of this story. "Have you lost your mind, Kendal? Remember how you said I would be throwing away my life here if I left to become queen of Galatia and get revenge? Well, you're pretty much doing the exact same thing here right now!"

Kendal sighed. "I'm not planning on staying there forever. I just want to take down Sahrissa and then I'm going to find someone who is capable of ruling instead of me. Look Aria, I have to do something. She's still out there."

"And she believes you're dead," Aria reminded her. "If the evil queen finds out you're still alive, she'll come after you."

"I know," Kendal said, confidently. "This time I will be ready for her."

Aria remained silent, still standing between the car and her friends. She then finally asked, "Why didn't you tell me about any of this?"

"I didn't want to put you in danger," Kendal answered, truthfully. "I didn't want to drag Vanessa into any of this either but she already found out so she's going now too."

Though she did not necessarily approve, Aria knew there was no point in trying to talk Kendal out of something she felt this strongly about. She then shrugged and opened the car door. "Well, I know now so I guess I'm going too."

Kendal sighed, as she seemed to have the same revelation about Aria.

xXx

Just as before, Becket had his carriage to meet up with the girls upon arrival. He seemed surprised to see Aria among the group now, but claimed he fully appreciated her support. When they arrived to Evalius, Aria noticed the lands appeared just as dried out and infertile as she remembered. However, this time something different stood out to her. Aria recalled last time she was here, the people appeared miserable and afraid. They would hide in the shadows, especially when new people arrived. Now, however, the citizens of Evalius were out and about, appearing much more cheerful. When the carriage entered, instead of running to hide, they stood out and cheered. Aria listened and realized they were crying out for Kendal.

The three girls followed Becket into the castle and went through the same maze path to the center of the castle where the main throne room and alter were located.

Becket summoned for Kendal to walk up to the alter. Aria and Vanessa stood back.

"So do you know exactly what this ritual involves?" Aria whispered to Vanessa.

Vanessa pointed to the alter stone. On it, there was a tiny silver ring placed.

"That was Kendal's wedding ring he gave her during the ceremony where she was going to be sacrificed," Vanessa explained. "Becket said he was going to take a drop of her blood on the ring, and while he says some weird chant over it, it should bring back Argarion's powers. He explained it all last time we were here."

Aria watched as he took a small dagger and just used it to prick Kendal's finger. Once a couple drops of blood dripped on the ring, Becket began his chanting. Aria did not recognize the language. Kendal took just one step back and a circular grey cloud began to form above the alter. This cloud spun like a whirlpool with lightning bolts flashing within. Aria jumped when one bold struck Kendal, knocking her on her back. Both girls rushed over to her side.

"Kendal, are you alright?" Aria demanded, trying to help her sit up.

Panting heavily, Kendal managed a nod. "I think so."

Still holding her arm, Aria asked, "Do you feel any different? Do you feel his powers?"

"I'm not sure," Kendal admitted, looking down at her hands, uncertainly.

Just as Kendal was about to try and test them, Aria noticed Vanessa's face grew white as she began to point her shivering finger up.

"Um, guys?" Vanessa quivered, her eyes widening.

Aria turned her head to the alter to see that not only did Lord Argarion's powers get resurrected, but Lord Argarion himself.


End file.
